I remember the good old days of Doordarshan, where we had interesting shows, like talented people showing off their skills at magic, puppetry and ventriloquism.
Let’s go with Ventriloquism for V!
Ventriloquism is the art of speaking in such a way that the sound seems to be coming from another source. A ventriloquist creates the illusion that the doll or puppet in his hand is the one actually speaking.
Ventriloquist with his puppet
Ventriloquism means speaking through the belly! Since the voice is muffled and seems distant, this helps in fooling people that the source of the sound is not the speaker, but is farther away!
Ventriloquists have also featured in movies. Edgar Bergen, the American Ventriloquist performed on radio and acted in movies, along with his dummy, Charlie McCarthy. He was also awarded a Honorary Oscar for his creation of the character called CharlieMcCarthy. He was also inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (I know very little about the other famous ventriloquists.)
In India too, ventriloquist Ramdas Padhye, second ventriloquist popularized ventriloquism through t.v. shows. His famous puppet Bunny the Funny is part of the Lijjat Papad Ad.
Do you know that a puppet played the villain in a Marathi movie? ( I remember watching a scene or two of this movie, but since Marathi is NOT a language I know, I didn’t watch the full movie. I continued surfing the channels!)
Tatya Vinchu – from the movie Zapatlela
If having a puppet as a villain is creepy, did you know that a ventriloquist once used his own son’s body as his puppet, in his acts of ventriloquism? (Yes, the post suddenly turned creepy and chilly, isn’t it?)
Do you like playing with puppets and surprising people with different voices? Then, ventriloquism is for you. Go ahead and do it for fun. (And try not to scare people or creep them away!)
P.S:
- The other hobbies starting with a V are Volleyball, Playing Violin, Video games, Vaulting (ornamental work on ceiling and roof), Pole Vaulting, Vacuuming (if a husband has this hobby, he will have a happy wifey!) and Videography (art of making videos, similar to ‘tik-tok’ers and ‘reel’ers!)
Till the next post! Ciao!
