Biography

Ramdas Padhye is a professional ventriloquist, puppeteer and puppet-maker based out of the capital city of Maharashtra, Mumbai. He is famous for his acclaimed ventriloqual and puppetry acts in India and overseas. Being in this field for the last five decades and having performed over 9700 shows on radio, stage, TV, feature films and other digital platforms. He has been a regular feature on Doordarshan since 1972, and his character – Ardhavatrao – is a household name in India. He is also the first ventriloquist from India to have performed on NBC, ABC and CBS television in America, and on BBC's channel Four. Ramdas received training in ventriloquism from his father, Late Prof. YK Padhye. In 1968, Ramdas performed before the then Prime Minister of India, Late Smt. Indira Gandhi in the capital. He has performed on themes like Family Planning, Small Savings, Child Education, Grow More Food, etc. He regularly visits hospitals to perform for Cancer patients and mentally-retarded children. Ramdas, at the advice of Indira Gandhi, began performing with his brother Rajendra Padhye. He has a collection of over 2000 puppets in his studio. His popular character – Bunny the Funny – is a brand mascot for Lijjat Papad commercials. The character – Tatya Vinchu – proved to be Padhye’s another milestone as it got featured in the movie Zapatlela in the year 1993.