There are three different styles and formats of Puppetry in West Bengal viz. i) Beni putul (Glove puppet): the Puppetry where a puppet is moved with hands, ii) Dang putul (Rod puppet): moved with a stick and iii) Taar putul or Suto putul (String puppet) where a puppet is moved with string. String puppets are made locally by using scrap cloth, paper mache and Solapith, to make them lighter. Depending on the character, the puppets are of 1ft to 3 ft, suspended with black strings and operated from the top. String Puppetry is presented on stage, where the audience sit in front of a stage of usual dimensions 7-8 ft wide, 4-6 ft in height and 3-4 ft in depth. A typical puppetry group comprises of 10-12 members; including music composer, lyricist, story writer, light man, sound man, instrumentalist, decorator and puppeteers. Duration of shows is around one hour to one hour thirty minutes.
Total 187 string Puppeteers from Muragacha in Nadia and Sonamukhi in Bankura districts are covered under the RCCH II initiative.