Satyajit Padhye is a Gen-Next ventriloquist and puppeteer and afinalist of India’s Got Talent, a reality show on Colors TV. He was invited on Kaun Banega Crorepati to exhibit his talent where he opened the episode with Amitabh Bachchan. He was invited on Bigg Boss Season 8 where he performed with Salman Khan. He has performed with Shah Rukh Khan on &TV on his new TV Show besides countless appearances on several television shows. He has also represented INDIA abroadat many International ventriloquism andpuppetry festivals.
In an exclusive interview with EVENTFAQS Media, Satyajit Padhye shares insights on his experience while performing for virtual events, major work done this year, USP of a ventriloquist over other artistes, some lockdown stories, future plans and more.
Share your experience while performing for virtual events. How different has it been from the on-ground experience?
Virtual events were fun as well as challenging. The biggest drawback of a virtual event is the inability to get audience feedback and their laughter or reaction when you perform. This feeling is common to all live entertainers. However, I tried to mould my performance accordingly and make the whole experience very interactive. For example, when I was performing virtually for Infosys, Intel and Josh Technology Group, I spoke with their HR teams and shortlisted a few employees that I and the puppet could interact with. I made a script around it. This made the whole experience unique. This is because virtually, it is just a one-way conversation and the viewer is passive, and not actively involved. Hence, audience interaction was the key to break that wall and make the whole virtual performance interesting. I was pretty successful at performing virtually, because I got great feedback from all my clients. However, on-ground experience is always preferred, as you can see immediately from the faces of the audience if they like your show and which jokes are working and which aren’t working.
Share some examples of the major work done by you this year.
I performed virtual events for Infosys, Josh Technology Group,Intel and many companies. I made online videos on the occasion of Road Safety Month 2021 for Navi Mumbai Police, where this video was shown across all schools in Navi Mumbai and it reached around 1,00,000 kids in Navi Mumbai. I also did many virtual workshops on ventriloquism which were hit as I got around 100 registrations.I performed virtually for the Windmill Festival 2020. I also conducted a special course on the art of ventriloquism on the Graphy app by Unacademy. I am the first Indian ventriloquist to have my own Graphy about the art of ventriloquism.
I also created a coronavirus awareness video in March 2020 with famous puppet character ‘TatyaVinchu’, which crossed 2million views on YouTube.So, it was amazing work. The pandemic in some ways forced everyone to explore different sides of their personalities.
From conducting virtual workshops to training Aditya Roy Kapoor to managing ‘GharatBasaleSaare’ for Zee Marathi, what were the challenges you had to face and how did you overcome them?
I trained Aditya Roy Kapur for the film ‘Ludo’ and made India’s first 3D printed puppet for the film Ludo directed by Anurag Basu. The film was shot till February 2020, just before the pandemic hit. So, everything was done before. However, it released on Netflix in November, 2020 and hence the promotion was done virtually.
The biggest challenge was directing, puppeteering and voicing an entire television show called ‘GharatBasaleSaare’ on Zee Marathi from June 2020 to July 2020. It made me explore so many sides. My father Ramdas Padhye, mom Aparna, wife Rujuta and brother Parikshit all were a part of this show. They handled different aspects of the show. It taught me direction, cinematography and so many things. So, this pandemic opened so many doors of opportunity for me. The challenge was to get a broadcast quality work using all resources available. So, I used to shoot in daylight and make sure I finish one scene at a stretch, so that there is no difference in lighting. This show is available on ZEE5 for everyone to watch. I am really very proud of this.
What is the USP of a ventriloquist compared to other artistes?
Compared to other stand-up comics, the USP of a ventriloquist is that he has a physical character in the form of a puppet and hence there is a visual appeal to the whole performance. Also, ventriloquism is a difficult art and hence compared to stand-up comics, you will find very few ventriloquists who are funny, entertaining and professionally good.I am not just a ventriloquist, but a puppeteer(a puppeteer is a person who hides when he performs with the puppet so that just the puppet is visible) and a puppet-maker too. I create various characters, props, objects which the client wants.
How did the lockdown treat you? Tell us some stories from your lockdown experience.
The lockdown was indeed a stressful time for all of us. It was kind of a pause button in all our lives. However, I spent the most time with my family as because of my events, I travel a lot at other times. It also made us realise the importance of family. We had so much time for so many things. I read many books and explored so many different things. The best part about the lockdown was that I could spend time with my little daughter Neeva, and teach her so many different things.I live in a joint family with my father, mother, wife, my daughter and my brother. So, I feel lucky to have them all in my life. Also, I consider myself lucky that I had so much work in spite of the lockdown.
Tell us about your future plans. Any major events in the pipeline?
Considering that things have opened up, there are many inquiries coming in for on-ground events. In fact, I just performed for two or three sangeet events and it was indeed fun to perform live and see my audience. There is one ad film project coming up, besides another digital film project.
