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Ramdas Padhye
Ramdas Padhye
	Ramdas Padhye with his puppet character Ardhavatrao or Gappidas or Mr Crazy
Birth name	Ramdas Yeshwant Padhye
Born	24th January; Mumbai, Maharashtra State, India
Medium	Stand-up, Feature Films, Television, Advertisements
Years active	1967–present
Genres	Ventriloquism, Puppetry, Stand up comedy, Puppeteer
Spouse	Aparna Padhye (m. 1980);
Children	Satyajit Padhye, Parikshit Padhye
Relative(s)	Rujuta Padhye (daughter-in-law), Neeva Padhye(grand-daughter)
Website	www.vpuppets.com

Ramdas Padhye (born on 24th January) is an Indian ventriloquist, puppeteer and puppet maker Mumbai, India. He has been performing this art of Ventriloquism in India. He has performed ventriloquial and puppetry acts in India and abroad during the last five decades with more than 9800 shows in different media including Radio, T.V, Stage, Feature Films and various digital platforms. He has been regularly featured on India’s National Channel Doordarshan since 1972. His character “Ardhavatrao” or Gappidas or Mr Crazy won him recognition in India. He also performed ventriloquism and puppet-based shows on NBC, ABC and CBS television in America in early 1970's.

The art of ventriloquism, popularly known as "bolkya bahulya" or "talking dolls" or "shabdabhram" or "voice illusion", is not well known in India. He has given the traditional Indian Puppets and Ventriloquial dolls the technological edge by upgrading them to international standards without losing their Indian identity and universal appeal.

Ramdas Padhye has created several characters which he designs in his Mumbai based Puppet Studio. Ramdas has a collection of more than 2000 puppets in his Puppet Studio. His puppet character “Ardhavatrao” made Mr Padhye synonymous with Indian audiences. This character was created by his father Y.K.Padhye before 1920’s. Mr Padhye's name is associated with another called “Bunny the Funny” which features in the Lijjat Papad commercial from the 1980s.This was the first Indian ad-film which features a muppet.

The character “Tatya Vinchu” was another milestone in Mr. Padhye’s career which shot to fame with the film “Zapatlela” in 1993. This character is the iconic villains of all time.

Ramdas Padhye is actively supported in his performances by his wife Aparna Ramdas who is singer, actress, and puppeteer.Aparna has done masters in Marathi Literature and has great command over Marathi language. Aparna married to Ramdas in 1980 and slowly started learning the intricacies of this art of puppetry and ventriloquism. Aparna has regularly appeared on National Television in 1980's and 90's. Ramdas and Aparna both of them perform various skits together along with their respective puppets on Husband-Wife theme.

Early life

Ramdas Padhye was born on 24th January in Mumbai, India to Y. K. Padhye & Tarabai Padhye. He has 4 siblings namely brothers Rajendra, Chandrahas and sisters Usha and Sheela. His father Prof. Yeshwant Keshav Padhye or Y. K. Padhye as he was known, was the pioneer Ventriloquist in India who started this art before 1920’s. Y. K. Padhye started by performing magic shows at small functions when the entertainment industry was in its infancy. However Y. K. Padhye created a niche for himself when he started combining magic and puppetry. Y. K. Padhye brought the puppets from England to include in his shows, later gradually introducing ventriloquism, teaching himself from a book which he ordered from U.S.A. This excited audiences as they had never seen a lively ventriloquial puppet talk.

His son Ramdas use to regularly accomany him and use to assist him in his shows. His father had a huge impact on his mind and when Ramdas was 5 years old, he was inquisitive as to how the puppets talk. So when his father was away, he took one of his puppets and tried to talk to him. When his father came, he told him that the puppet was not talking to him. His father explained to him about the art of Ventriloquism and this is how he got introduced to the art of ventriloquism.

Ramdas Padhye learnt the intricacies of this art form of Ventriloquism from his father from the age of 8. He practiced the art for 5 years and then gave his first performance after that. Also Ramdas learnt about the art of puppetry from his father who introduced him to different puppetry techniques like rod puppets, string puppets, marionettes.

Career

Beginnings

A Mechanical engineer from India’s premier engineering institution V.J.T.I., Ramdas inherited the art of ventriloquism from his father Late Prof. Y. K. Padhye, who was believed to be the pioneer Indian Ventriloquist who used ventriloquial dolls before 1920's in India . His father Y. K. Padhye passed away in the year 1967, thereby leaving a huge legacy to his son Ramdas Padhye, who successfully stepped into his shoes and has been carrying on this art to the next generations for last 5 decades. In 1968, at the age of 23, he performed before then Prime Minister of India Late Smt. Indira Gandhi in New Delhi. Spurred by her advice to give distinct Indian touch to the art, Padhye introduced several Indian puppets/dolls with whom the Indian masses could readily identify themselves. He then selected several themes of national importance such as "Family Planning", "Small Savings", "Child Education", and "Grow more Food" etc. for his shows and presented them with the help of his witty and entertaining puppets. He regularly visited the hospitals and brought cheers to the lives of Cancer patients and mentally retarded children. Ramdas alongwith his brother Rajendra Padhye, who is a Chartered Accountant started performing his shows after the advice of Mrs.Indira Gandhi.Ramdas performed his Ventriloquism and Puppetry based acts in country’s number of top musical and variety entertainment shows like Kishore Kumar Nite, Tabassum Hit Parade, Manna Dey Nite, Kalyanji-Anandji Nite, Filmfare Awards Nite, Zee Cine Awards in 1970's and 1980's. His acts were appreciated and enjoyed by various celebrities in the Indian Film industry.

Television

In 1972 Mr Padhye visited USA for his first major performance on CBS television after he was invited to perform on the network.He is the first Indian Ventriloquist to perform on CBS in America in 1972. After coming to India he resigned from his job and started doing the art of Ventriloquism and Puppetry full time. In the year 1972, when Doordarshan, India's National television started it's operations, Ramdas Padhye had his own shows called "Meri Bhi Suno" and "Aap Hi Sochiye", both popular shows which gave a social messages with the help of puppets. This show made him a household name in India. Padhye's puppets regularly featured on the National television "Doordharshan" on several other shows.The national channel Doordarshan has played a pivotal role in spreading this art to the masses. In fact Padhye’s career got a great boost with his puppets making in-roads in every household. His puppet characters "Ardhavatrao" and "Awadabai" were regularly featured on the television shows and are still remembered by many Indians who have grown up seeing his puppets. After his marriage to Aparna in 1980, he performed several shows on Doordarshan alongwith his wife who essayed several characters on the show and also operated puppets along with him. They performed on husband wife theme. Ramdas Padhye not only performed Ventriloquism shows but effectively combined puppetry with it thereby moving beyond the stand-up comedy form and creating different characters and scripts and combining entertainment and education similar to the Sesame Street.

Ramdas Padhye also had his own television show “Jhoote Sacche Gude Bachhe” directed by legendary playwright Vijay Tendulkar and produced by actress Priya Tendulkar which ran in 1990’s on Doordarshan which featured several celebrity guests.

In the year 2005, Ramdas Padhye created a puppet called Misha for the television show Misha, a children's fiction program telecast on Zee Marathi. The puppet was operated by Ramdas and his wife Aparna. The show was directed by Kedar Shinde.

Ramdas Padhye and his team of trained puppeteers also were behind the show called "Juicy Pammi" on India's leading Lifestyle channel "ZOOM". This show was a satire puppet show on Bollywood with puppets of different Bollywood celebrities which was hosted by a puppet named Juicy Pammi. The show was similar to the British satirical puppet show spitting image.

Ramdas Padhye also was a part of the political satire show "Don't Take Manavar" on Marathi news Channel ABP Majha where he designed puppets of different political figures. The puppets were operated by his team of puppeteers.

Ramdas Padhye produced another television show called "Gharat Basale Saare" on Zee Marathi which starred his famous puppet characters Ardhavatrao and Awadabai alongwith other puppet characters like Chotu Singh and his family. The show was entirely shot from home amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and was directed by Padhye's son Satyajit Padhye The entire Padhye family was behind the show with daughter-in-law Rujuta Padhye and Parikshit Padhye handling the cinematography of the show and Ramdas, Aparna and Satyajit Padhye giving the voices as well as operating different characters on the show.This show debuted on 8th June 2020 on Zee Marathi and featured 25 episodes in its first season. Gharat Basale Saare is India's first daily soap featuring puppets

Puppet Stage Productions

Ramdas Padhye produced a full length Marathi play called "Bol Bol Mhanta" in the year 1983 which featured him as the lead actor and ventriloquist and his wife Aparna as the lead actress in the play. The play was a political satire and used live actors and puppets effectively. The play was directed by Dilip Kolatkar and written by Ramesh Mantri. The play also had stalwarts from Marathi theatre like Manorama Wagle, Vijay Patkar, Ajay Wadhavkar, Ram Nagarkar.

In the year 1994 Ramdas Padhye and his wife Aparna presented a children's puppet play in English titled Goodnight Baby Dino which revolved around the family of dinosaurs. The play was directed by ad-man Bharat Dabholkar. The play consisted of around 100 puppets designed by Padhye. The music for this play was given by Louis Banks.

Another puppet production which Ramdas Padhye produced was "Hats Off - Theatre Impossible". This highly entertaining stage presentation was the confluence of various exotic and internationally acclaimed stage techniques such as Japanese Bunraku, Chinese marionettes, half body humanettes and French black light theatre which brings alive almost any object on the stage.Ramdas and Aparna skillfully blended the essence of these techniques to create an unique and highly stimulating entertainment for Indian audiences which have come of age.This show was produced by Ramdas Padhye in the year 1998.

In the year 2000, Ramdas Padhye & Aparna Padhye staged another puppet production called "Draupadi Swayamvar" or "Marriage of Draupadi" , a puppet presentation from the great indian epic Mahabharata featuring the traditional Indian 175 years old puppets of pioneer Marathi dramatist Vishnudas Bhave The show was presented by Ramdas & Aparna alongwith their son Satyajit and Parikshit and 15 trained puppeteers. It also had actor Priyadarshan Jadhav in the role of Vidushak or Court Jester and folk singer Nandesh Umap.

In the year 1978, Late Mr.Bhalchandra Pendharkar, a veteran dramatist, found this treasure of puppets originally handcrafted by pioneer Indian dramatist Late Vishnudas Bhave 150 years ago approximately in the year 1843 in Mumbai. He thought Ramdas Padhye would be able to give justice to the original puppets of Vishnudas Bhave. Hence he handed over these puppets to Mr Padhye. These puppets were all in shambles with legs, rims, torsos of different puppets scattered everywhere. Mr Padhye was motivated by historic contribution of pioneer Indian dramatist Late Vishnudas Bhave, and he with his wife Aparna devotedly started to restore this treasure to its original glory & splendor. Ramdas and my wife Aparna went through available 19th century literature, newspapers & biography in their quest to restore and resurrect these puppets to their original glory. After a research of almost 20 years, both husband and wife pieced together various references, scripts & leads gathered from the various spare parts of puppets & finally restored some of the puppets to the original splendor. These puppets are basically operated by string & rod techniques which are superbly complemented by mechanical pulleys & specially crafted puppet theatre with inter-changeable wooden tracks. This unique technique presented by Ramdas Padhye may be first of its kind in international arena which was discovered 175 years ago by Indian puppeteer, Vishnudas Bhave.Thus the play "Draupadi Swayamvar" or "Marriage of Draupadi" was stage by Ramdas Padhye & his team at the Nehru Centre auditorium, Mumbai in the year 2000 at the Sangeet Natak Festival thereby bringing to life the 150 years old puppets of Vishnudas Bhave. This play which has integrated sophisticated puppets, unique style of presentation & topical references has all the elements folk theatre, entertainment & breadth-taking beauty of original puppets.This play was presented at the World Festival of Puppet Art, Prague in Czech Republic where puppet theaters from around 50 countries participated.Ramdas Padhye, his wife Aparna Padhye and two sons Satyajit & Parikshit presented this show.They also won the Special Jury Award “Best Traditional Puppet Play”.The documentary film “Born Again” based on this play showcased the journey of Ramdas Padhye and Aparna Padhye in their quest to restore the 150 Years Old Puppets to their original glory. The film traces the journey of how these puppets were restored and how the show was presented by Ramdas Padhye.The film has been directed by Mr.Arun Khopkar, an eminent film-maker. This film has been produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT). This film was showcased at the Puppets on Film Festival organized by Jim Henson Foundation in the year 2011 at Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York.It also won awards at MilanoDoc Festival of Art, Milan, 2007 and at National Puppetry Festival, Atlanta,

These 150 Years old Puppets were also showcased on Kaun Banega Crorepati in Season 5. Mr.Amitabh Bachchan appreciated the efforts in keeping with the tradition of puppetry alive. The show was presented by Satyajit Ramdas Padhye and a team of 10 puppeteers.

In 2009, Ramdas Padhye also presented another mega puppet play called "Fantazia Fantastique" directed by ad-man Bharat Dabholkar consisting around 250 puppets. The speciality of this play was that it used the French Black Light Puppetry form extensively on stage. It featured several aquatic puppets like dreamy-eyed smiling shark, 10 foot evil octopus, 20 feet vicious anaconda besides 100's of other fishes. It was kind of a Walt Disney movie on stage. Another speciality of this play was that, the voices of several puppet characters were given by Bollywood celebs like Jackie Shroff who lent a husky voice to the prince, Juhi Chawla who dubbed for the beautiful mermaid, Jaaved Jaffrey was the wicked shark who is the sidekick to the witchy octopus with flowing pink hair voiced by Shubha Khote and Arshad Warsi dubbed for a funny sea monkey called Short Circuit. The title track for this play was sung by Shankar Mahadevan.

In the middle of year 2016 and 2017, Ramdas Padhye’s most well-known and beloved puppet character “Ardhavatrao”, also known as “Mr. Crazy” turned 100 years of age. This character was originally created by his father Y. K. Padhye, who was a pioneer Indian Ventriloquist who believed to have started the art of Ventriloquism in India around 1916. “Ardhavatrao” or “Mr. Crazy” is probably the first “Puppet Character” in India which has turned 100 years of age and is still being actively performed by Ramdas Padhye. across the globe This was a historic event and a moment of achievement in the puppetry and ventriloquism world. To celebrate the centenary year of this puppet character, in September 2016 Ramdas Padhye planned a special show titled “Carry on Entertainment – Ramdas Padhye Live” to be staged across various parts of India and abroad so that audiences across the globe can witness this historic phenomena live, re-live the nostalgia and witness the magic of this puppet character once again. The show consists of best puppetry and ventriloquism acts specially curated, created and designed by Ramdas Padhye which he had performed in several puppetry festivals abroad.The show includes some of his well known puppet characters like Lijjat Papad Bunny, Tatya Vinchu from the film Zapatlela which are itched in the minds of all the Indians.The show also has a special act celebrating the centenary year of Ramdas Padhye’s beloved puppet character “Ardhavatrao” or “Mr.Crazy” and would be a unique opportunity for audiences to witness this phenomena live which will be the highlight of this show.To celebrate the centenary year of Ardhavatrao, Ramdas Padhye and his team performed “Carry on Entertainment – Ramdas Padhye Live” across 10 countries and represented their country INDIA at several Ventriloquism and Puppetry Festivals. They performed this show in World Puppetry Carnival in Sarawak, Malaysia in Oct 2017, 5th China Quanzhou International Puppetry Festival in Nov 2017, World Puppetry Carnival in Yekaterinburg, Russia in August 2018 and in Harmony Puppet Festival in Phuket, Thailand in Nov 2018.

Advertisements & Music Videos

With Ramdas Padhye and his puppets becoming a household name in 1980’s, the ad-film makers and advertisting agencies were keen to use this new medium of ventriloquism and puppetry to sell their products.Since then advertising industry has been using Ramdas Padhye and his various characters to capture their histrionics in the Mad-AD world.

The most popular advertisement till date which made Ramdas Padhye a household name is the Lijjat Papad Commercial in the year 1980 which used his popular character “Bunny the Funny” who was shown munching a packet of papad with the trademark laughter at the end of the commercial which still resonates a great brand recall even today in the minds of the consumers.

Parle's Krackjack biscuit also had Ramdas Padhye and his puppet Tom which featured him as a Ventriloquist and his puppet arguing about the taste of the biscuit.In the year 2000, Ramdas and his team of puppeteers also shot for an ad-film for Annapurna Salt featuring 15 different marionettes.

In the year 1999, Singer and composer Falguni Pathak used Padhye's puppets in the music video Maine Payal Hai Chhankai where marionettes designed and operated by Ramdas and his son Satyajit were used.

In the year 2009, Tata Sky came up with a commercial with Aamir Khan which used him as a Ventriloquist in the ad-film. The ad-film was about Tata Sky active services and the concept was that how television set has become a puppet in our hands. For this particular advertisement Ramdas Padhye provided ventriloquism training to Aamir Khan who taught Aamir Khan the intricacies of this art form. Also the look of Aamir Khan in the ad-film was recreated with painstaking similarity with that of Ramdas's hairstyle and dressing. The advertisement of Tata Sky was produced by Corcoise Films and directed by Prasoon Pandey and the agency which commissioned it was Ogilvy and Mather.

In the year 2009, a music video called "Hindustan Di Kudi" by artist Amitesh Mishra used Ramdas Padhye's puppets in his music video. The puppets were created by Padhye and his team of puppeteers for this music video. This music video directed by Ben Rekhi and used 10 to 15 puppeteers of Padhye to operate them.

Feature Films

Ramdas with wife Aparna, Actor Laxmikant Berde, director Mahesh Kothare during shooting of film Zapatlela in 1993

Ramdas Padhye has not only used this art form of Ventriloquism and Puppetry on television and theatre, but has also successfully explored the intricacies of this art form on the silver screen.

After seeing Ramdas perform a Ventriloquist act at the Filmfare Awards in 1982 , superstar Amitabh Bachchan was so impressed that he expressed his keen desire to play the role of a Ventriloquist in one of his films. He then incorporated this art form in his film Mahaan released in the year 1983 which features Mr.Bachchan in a triple role, where one of the role is of a Ventriloquist.Ramdas and his wife Aparna skillfully operated the puppet hiding themselves from the camera making an illusion as if Mr.Bachchan is operating the puppet. The film was produced by Satyanarayana and Suryanarayana and directed by S. Ramanathan. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan in a triple role alongside Waheeda Rehman, Parveen Babi, Zeenat Aman, Ashok Kumar, Amjad Khan, Kader Khan, Aruna Irani, Sujit Kumar and Shakti Kapoor. The music is by R.D. Burman.

In the year 1993, Marathi feature film Zapatlela directed by Mahesh Kothare used Mr Padhye puppet Tatya Vinchu which became hugely popular puppet characters of all time. The film Zapatlela was released on 14th April 1993.This movie was inspired by 1988 Hollywood movie Child's Play.The puppet of Tatya Vinchu was designed and created by Ramdas Padhye and operated in the film by Ramdas and his wife Aparna.Ramdas created 9 replicas of the puppet “Tatya Vinchu” using different puppetry techniques keeping in mind requirements of every scene of the film. This film starred one of the best comedians of all time Laxmikant Berde who essayed the role of the Ventriloquist. With impeccable comic timing of Mr.Berde matched with lifelike movements of the puppet by Ramdas and his wife Aparna, the puppet Tatya Vinchu became an iconic villain of all times which still gives sleepless nights to many who have grown up watching this film.This film Zapatlela proved to be a landmark film in Mr.Padhye’s career thereby proving his versatility as a puppeteer, ventriloquist and puppet-maker all rolled into one. This film was dubbed in Hindi as Khilona Bana Khalnayak.

In the year 2001, Padhye worked with Telgu actor Rajendra Prasad for the Telgu version of the film Zapatlela which was titled Ammo Bomma. The film was directed by Relangi Narasimha Rao.

In the year 2002, Padhye worked with director Kundan Shah on a film titled Dil Hai Tumhara which used his puppet Rangeela in the film. Actor Jimmy Shergill essayed the role of a ventrioquist and it also starred other actors like Preity Zinta, Mahima Chaudhary and Arjun Rampal. Dil Hai Tumhaara received generally mixed reviews, but Preity Zinta's performance was universally praised by critics, with those critical of the film marking her presence as its main highlight.

In the year 2013, Mahesh Kothare came up with a sequel to the original film Zapatlela called Zapatlela 2 which starred his son Adinath Kothare. Zapatlela 2 is the first Marathi film shot entirely with a 3D camera. The film marks the comeback of the renowned ventriloquist Ramdas Padhye along with his famous evil puppet Tatya Vinchu. Though Padhye claims that the sequel had higher challenges in presenting the puppet, he also admits that advanced VFX helped in taking the puppet to the next level. Padhye has used amalgamation of different puppetry techniques like Ventriloquial puppets, Muppets, Rod Puppets, String Puppets and hi-tech Animatronic puppets to create an amazing character “Tatya Vinchu” who does all different kinds of daredevil stunts in the movie. The puppet was operated by him, his wife Aparna and son Satyajit Padhye. The film also starred actors Sonalee Kulkarni, Makarand Anaspure, Madhu Kambikar, Deepak Shirke, Sai Tamhankar, Vijay Chavan and director Mahesh Kothare. Mahesh Kothare has stated that if the film did well, it would be dubbed into Hindi and a third movie in the series could be made.

International Acclaim

Ramdas Padhye represented India in several ventriloquism and puppetry festivals abroad. Ramdas Padhye’s global breakthrough was an offer from one of America’s largest broadcasting networks, CBS in early 1970's. His satirical piece on ‘drugs and yoga’ was an instant hit.This international stint made him a phenomenon back home in India. While on his tour in USA in 1972, he met Jim Henson who inspired him to also learn the intricacies of puppetry and its effective use on television. He has represented India at the prestigious Vent Haven Convention in KY, USA in the year 1972, 1979, 1992 and 2002.

He represented India at World Festival of Puppet Arts, Prague in 2006 where he presented the traditional 150 years old puppets of Vishnudas Bhave. He also won the Best Traditional Puppetry Act in this festival. Ramdas Padhye and his wife Aparna and son Satyajit Padhye represented India at the UNIMA World Puppetry Festival held in Chengdu, China in the year 2012. He was the first Indian Ventriloquist to represent India at this festival in China.

He has represented India at Wayang World Puppetry Carnival in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2013

He also presented his show and represented India at Rainforest World Puppetry Carnival, Sarawak, Malaysia and at 5th China Quanzhou International Puppetry Festival in 2017.

In 2018, Ramdas Padhye and his family presented their show "Carry on Entertainment - Ramdas Padhye Live" in World Puppetry Carnival in Yekaterinburg, Russia and also at Harmony World Puppet Festival in Phuket, Thailand

Ramdas Padhye as Puppet Designer & Puppet Builder

Being a mechanical engineer from VJTI, Ramdas Padhye also learnt the intricacies of puppet building on his own.He is a Puppet Designer and Puppet Builder. Padhye has around 2000 puppets in his collection, some of which have been built by him for various projects. Padhye's work on Doordarshan forced him to introduce different puppets on his television shows which he started building in his puppet studio. Padhye's first major character which he built was Tatya Vinchu for the movie Zapatlela in the year 1993. The puppet was built using foam and cloth and other materials. After that, Padhye has built puppets for several projects including numerous ad-films and television shows. Padhye's designed puppets have been used on children shows on television channels in Singapore and Cambodia.