Vashi: The 793rd show of the Little Ballet Troupe’s (LBT) rendition of epic saga ‘Ramayana’ was staged in Vashi recently.

The Troupe, formed in 1950, has successfully retained the same rawness and folkloric flavour that has been a leitmotif of the show for the last 73 years.

The costumes, the backdrops, the background music all are remain the same. The LBT trust is planning to apply for the UNESCO Heritage tag after completing its 1000th show.

In February 2025, Nootan Bhakal made a documentary ‘Little Ballet Troupe Chronicles, the remarkable journey of India’s oldest Puppet Ballet troupe’ in YouTube

“Shanti Bardhan, the visionary choreographer, a disciple of Guru Uday Shankar synthesized the classical and modern Indian dance through a puppet theatre group called Little Ballet troupe in 1952 in Mumbai,” Bhakal said.

“The LBT’s rendition of Ramayana breaks all barrier of star-performer format of that period and evolved into a true collaborative performance. He integrated India’s diverse cultural heritage into performances which prioritize artistic excellence over mere showmanship.”

Unfortunately, Bardhan died in 1954. But the show has continued with all credit to Gul Bardhan, the wife of Bardhan. After some turmoil, LBT shifted to Bhopal in 1985.

“Gul Bardhan and another choreographer- director Prabhat Ganguly were the ultimate personalities who took the puppet theatre LBT to a greater height, But the direction, costume, backdrop designs as well as background music follows the same version which was evolved and choreographed by Shanti Bardhan, the pioneer.”

As far as costumes are concerned Nootan’s father Hasan Premani was costume designer of the Ballet Ramayana and the same costumes have continued since the inaugural show.

Nirupa Joshi, the secretary since 1985 revealed, “wear and tear during such a long period of 70 years is not at all uncommon, but I must give credits to the artists that they mend the dresses on their own regularly after every show. Wherever required, they use to stich, paint, put another beads, do patch works to maintain the dresses which were actually designed in jute fabric by Hasan Premani, the original dress designer. Masks are other props which were handmade with the base created with papier mache.”

“The artists who started with Shanti Bardhan have passed away. We have to acquire new batch of performers, many of them have been performing since 1985 and few are new dancers,” she said.

“Since the faces of the artists are covered with masks all credit goes to the body movement following the puppetry format. Hence the artists have to practice physical fitness exercises and dance for puppetry on regular basis.”

Gul didi or Gul Bardhan who earned Padmasree, Sangeet Natak Academy prize for her visionary project, was the torchbearer along with Prabhat Ganguly.

They did whatever possible for the troupe, even the troupe performed at various countries.