Farooq Qaisar gives puppetry tips to art lovers

By Abid Usman

ISLAMABAD: Famous puppeteer Farooq Qaisar Monday explained the basic techniques and tricks of the trade to young artists at a two day long puppet workshop that kicked off here at Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA).
Arranged by PNCA, the event featured Farooq Qaisar who is a renowned name behind famous puppet character from the 90s ‘Uncle Sargam’. He shared the history of puppetry to the students while explaining the basics of puppetry.
Highlighting the role of teachers and parents, Farooq Qaiser said puppets were used to educate society about human development without unnecessarily aggravating social norms.
Uncle Sargam, the character, had always been a critic of the existing system and highlighted various social issues in a humorous and sarcastic manner, he said. He underlined the basics of different genres of puppetry such as shadow puppetry, rod puppetry, string puppetry, glove puppetry and life sign puppetry.

Farooq Qaisar stressed the need to create a powerful script for which there must be an academic training where the teacher can share expertise with the students. The participants will be trained in puppet making, handling, light, sound and script writing during this workshop.