Jaipur organises impersonator show to revive folk art form

With an aim of reviving popular folk entertainment, a Behrupia (impersonator) show was organised on Saturday.

Organised at the Jawahar Kala Kendra, this unique show saw participation of impersonators from all over the country.

Around 80 participants from Kolkata, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan converged at the venue to entertain the locals. Wearing the guise of mythological characters, the artists performed episodes from ancient Hindu myths.

"The origin of this art form goes back several centuries. My father was also a very good Behrupia. This is our ancestral profession. Today all the behrupias are considered great artists. There was a time when there was no theatre or drama, and our ancestors used to perform in front of the Mughal emperors," said Abdul Hamid, an artist.

According to Rajeev Acharya, the organiser of the show, the main aim was to bring artists from different places together so that they could interact and discuss ways of reviving the famous art form.

"These artistes take instances from their everyday life and portray the characters they see and entertain all, and give a lesson to the audience. Till now this art form was organized in fairs, but today we have organized this show so that artists from different regions can participate and interact with each other and discuss ways to improve their skills," said Acharya.

The Behrupia art has deep roots in the Indian history and it used to be a popular source of entertainment, encouraged by many rulers. Behrupia artists say that earlier there used to be around 374 defined roles for the impersonators, but today they all have shrunk to only a dozen.