The Gudigar community is a small group of artists who work in Udupi’s Kundapur district that are working towards keeping the dying craft of Bhoota art alive.
The 2022 runaway hit Kannada film Kantara, has triggered a resurgence in the art performance Bhoota Kola. However, the worship of spirits (Bhoota in the local language) is a practice that has been happening since ages and while Bhoota means ghost, these are spirits who are revered like the Gods who protect the villages. There is also a traditional art – called the Bhoota Art where the craftsmen make these idols and is a knowledge that is transferred to the next generation by the family.
And leading this art was Pradeep Gudigar, an artisan whose family has carved these idols for ages. His son, Pratheek Gudigar, who is an engineer by education who was always interested in painting, however never practiced this art form. Fate, however, had other plans. After he lost his father to Covid, he decided to give up his job in the city to come back to the family profession of making these idols.
Read the full story that first appeared in The New Indian Express dated June 30, 2024 here:
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