The gloves are off:Why you can’t afford to miss this new sock puppet show

Inspired by late night viewings of old-school mafia movies — the likes of The Untouchables and Once Upon a Time in America, 22-year-old Ashwin Choithramani wondered how a gangster plot between socks would play out. “The idea of a gangster sock puppet show sounded so awful, we decided to go ahead with it,” he laughs. “We want to be pioneers of the sock puppet movement in India.”

Choithramani, who heads the events team at Paprika Idea Labs, and friend Raihaan Attawala, an applied psychology student, have put together Cold Feet: An American Italian Gangster Sock Puppet Story, which will premiere this weekend.

Freddy from the Cotton Fabric gang has been invading Tony from Polyester Platoon’s territory, in this fantastical land. Freddy has taken to selling illegal threads enhancers (read: drugs) to kids. The plot unfolds as the warring gangs face each other in the ultimate climax.

Choithramani, who wanted to create something fresh, picked up the art of sock puppetry via YouTube videos. The Cold Feet team created the sock puppet themselves and began rehearsing earlier this month. “There’s a lot you can do with sock puns and profanity when it’s in your hands,” he says.

Little wonder then, that the script is peppered with lines like, “Well then, I guess it socks to be you and” “If I catch you on my territory again, the gloves are off!”

Top 5 must-watch sock puppet shows on YouTube

The Indiana Jones Trilogy Sock Puppet Show: They manage to do a lot with really limited resources. It’s also amazingly fast-paced. This will hold your interest even if you have a low attention span.

Star Wars — Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre: We weren’t born in the generation that was first introduced to Star Wars. Fortunately, we were born in the one in which it was first introduced to those characters in the form of socks.

Halloween 13 — Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre: With Halloween just around the corner, it’s time to watch some clever puns. And they have an amazing set.

Juno Sock Puppet Show: There’s a scene in which Juno gives birth as a sock. It involves another hand going under sock-Juno’s skirt and taking out the baby. This was probably the fastest delivery to have ever occurred. And it happened to a sock.

Slayer — Raining Blood: None of us have ever been big fans of the trash metal guitarist Slayer. As terrifying as socks can get.

—By Ashwin Choithramani, director and co-writer, Cold Feet