Yeshwant Keshav Padhye was the pioneering

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Ventriloquist Ventriloquism or ventriloquy is an act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) speaks in such a way that it seems like their voice is coming from a different location, usually through a puppet known as a "dummy". The act of ventrilo ...

who started

ventriloquism Ventriloquism or ventriloquy is an act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) speaks in such a way that it seems like their voice is coming from a different location, usually through a puppet known as a "dummy". The act of ventrilo ...

in India in the 1920s. He was also a

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...

and maker.

Early life

As a magician he performed magic shows in India. Eventually he brought puppets from England and then slowly started performing ventriloquism.

Career

Magic

Padhye started by performing magic shows at small functions when the entertainment industry was in its infancy. However he created a niche for himself when he started combining magic and puppetry. He 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.

Puppets in films

Once the art of ventriloquism gained popularity, he also received offers from film makers. His puppets were featured in one

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

film called ''Akeli Mat Jaiyo''. His famous puppet "

Ardhavatrao Ardhavatrao, also known as Mr. Crazy, is an Indian puppet character created in 1916 by Y. K. Padhye, Yeshwant Keshav Padhye. Known for its comedic style, the character has been featured in performances for over a century. Ardhavatrao gained populari ...

" appeared along with actor

Rajendra Kumar Rajendra Kumar (born as Rajendra Kumar Tuli; 20 July 1927 – 12 July 1999), was an Indian actor who starred in Bollywood films. Starting his career in 1949, he appeared in more than 80 films in a career spanning over four decades. Kumar was on ...

. The puppet was operated by Padhye himself. The music of the film was composed by

Madan Mohan Madanamohana () is an epithet of the Hindu deity Krishna. It translates as, "he whose charm (''mohana'') bewilders even the god of love ('' madana'')". The epithet describes the powerful nature of the attraction for the deity from his devotees, e ...

with lyrics by

Majrooh Sultanpuri Asrar ul Hassan Khan (1 October 1919 − 24 May 2000), better known as Majrooh Sultanpuri, was an Indian Urdu poet and lyricist in the Hindi language film industry. He wrote lyrics for numerous Hindi film soundtracks. He was one of the dom ...

Personal life

Y.K. Padhye's son Ramdas Padhye, his daughter-in-law Aparna, and his grandsons Satyajit and Parikshit are also ventriloquists and puppeteers in the entertainment field.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Padhye, Y K Year of birth missing Indian puppeteers Puppet designers Ventriloquists