“He learnt puppetry from his father at the age of 14 years and took to creating social awareness through the art form that he dearly loved. With a firm decision of making puppetry his profession, he got training for 'stage craft' from Ebrahim Alkazi at the National School of Drama,” she informs. Thereafter, he received a fellowship from the Bombay University and started working with different NGOs to further his cause.

Marriage to Ranjana, who had similar interests, gifted Kanitkar a true companion. They set-up the PUPPET (People's Universal Popular Puppetry Education Theatre), a public trust. “Initially, he started working with tribes in Karjat, close to Pune. They found it very interesting and people from nearby villages started gathering. Hemant taught the youth puppetry and the use of shadows. We then continued going to different villages and town throughout India and teaching puppetry to the locals,” she tells.

Armed with a sharp presence of mind and an excellent sense of humour, Kanitkar made a definite difference to the common perception that puppetry is only for entertaining children. She is quick to cite an example. “While he was performing in a show at Baba Amte's rehabilitation center for people affected with leprosy, he had a string puppet holding a lit cigarette in its hand. When the audience panicked about the lit portion touching the puppet, he remarked as the voice of the puppet, that the puppet couldn't sense it. This implied that the puppet might have had leprosy.”

By example, he proved that puppets could be very useful in education, therapeutics and as an answer to social problems. He has also dealt with sensitive issues like exploitation of women and children, children's education, adult illiteracy, drug addiction and other important social stigmas.

Financial aid from the Ford Foundation, different NGOs and the department of Handicrafts made Kanitkar's efforts more viable. “To arrange funds from NGOs is somewhat difficult as very few NGOs perceive puppetry as more than an art form. Those that think of it as a good means of communication, have very little funding under the account head,” she adds.