The Padhye family has used this art form since the early 1960s. “My father Yeshwant Padhye started the art of ventriloquism and used the character of Ardhavatrao in the 1963 film Akeli Mat Jaiyo, where actor Rajendra Kumar played the role of a ventriloquist,” says Ramdas.
In November 2020, the duo designed India’s first 3D printed puppet of Aditya Roy Kapur, in the Anurag Basu directorial Ludo. Says Satyajit, “Aditya played a ventriloquist and his alter ego was a puppet that looked like him. We designed the puppet and this was the first time in India that a 3D printed puppet of a celebrity was used in a Bollywood film. I also trained Aditya for his role.”
A chartered accountant by training, Satyajit trained under his father and is a professional ventriloquist, puppeteer, puppeteer and stand-up comic. He says, “I have appeared in many reality TV shows and acted alongside superstars like Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan. We constantly use various technologies such as animatronics, radio controlled puppetry in our puppets.”
Modern puppetry techniques add entertainment value
With his engineering background Ramdas has designed and created one-of-a-kind puppets and over the past 56 years has performed over 9,900 shows on stage, television, commercials, feature films and digital media. “I have created puppets, maps, humanoids, masks and all kinds of talking objects and have a collection of about 2200 puppets. In India, when we say puppets, people mostly know Rajastani Katputali, which are considered as a tradition rather than entertainment. Using modern puppetry techniques such as maps and black light puppetry, puppetry still has great entertainment value.”
Bollywood connection
Talking about the fact that from 1963 to 2020, Bollywood has always turned to the Padhyes when it came to using puppetry and puppetry in films. Ramdas shares, “One night, while I was performing at the Filmfare Awards in 1980, we caught the attention of Amitabh Bachchan, who expressed his desire to portray the role of a ventriloquist in his film Mahan (1980). My marionette Ardhavatrao also featured in another superhit Marathi film Zapatillas in 1993 along with popular actor Laxmikant Berde. In 2001, Kundan Shah’s Dil Hai Tumhara used my puppet. I trained Jimmy Shergill for the Ventriloquist role in that movie. I also worked with perfectionist Aamir Khan for a DTH commercial in 2010 and trained Aamir for the role of Ventriloquist while handling the puppet.”
When asked about his future endeavours, Satyajit says, “Though this is an art that requires a lot of time and constant dedication, I would love to spread the knowledge. We have traveled the world and found children and adults of all nationalities, all over the world, connecting beautifully with puppets and ventriloquism. I want to do workshops on this art just to spread more information and knowledge about it.”
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