Tomorrow We Disappear

Montana Premiere

At first glance, the Kathputli colony looks like any other Indian slum. But Kathputli is a place of fading traditions. For half a century, 2,800 artist families have called its narrow alleyways home; there are jugglers and acrobats, puppeteers and painters, folk singers and magicians, many of whom are well-respected artists in India and abroad. In 2009 the New Delhi government sold Kathputli to developers for a fraction of its worth. The land is to be bulldozed to make room for the city’s first-ever skyscraper, The Raheja Phoenix.