The video shows a rare form of native puppetry called Nokkuvidya . Practised and passed down to generations this highly skilled form of puppetry is on the verge of extinction. The speciality of this puppetry is that the puppets are made to stand and move on a stick balanced on the face of the performer and this demands years of practice and skill. Performed during Onam festival in early years it is accompanied by an orchestra of a vocalist and a small percussion instrument.
Stories are from mythology and animal life.
The artist in the video Ms. Kamalakshi Amma of Iringol near Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district is the one and only person performing the art form today. Pillai was a renowned writer who made enormous contributions to Malayalam literature. The Parambikkulam Wildlife Sanctuary here spreads over an area of 285 sq km on the Western Ghats. The sanctuary offers an exotic experience of the rare fauna of Kerala. Quite a few hill tribes, like the Malayars, the Kadas and the Muthuvans also live in the jungles of Parambikkulam.