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Mimicry is an age-old art. Where would you find the instances of mimicry by humans. You can yourself notice that the first mimicry artist might have been the people of stone age, the caveman, who mimicked or copied animal voices to keep them away. Like if a Bear came near to the caves at night, they may produce voices of Lion to fear him away. Even we find instances in our mythological characters. In Ramayana, when Rama chased Maricha who was in the guise of the golden deer, Maricha shouted to attract Lakshmana in imitation of Rama's voice. In Mahabharata, Bhima used this art to entice and eliminate the villain Keechaka. Mimicry has been through us always. A Mimicry Artiste should specialize in the imitation of voices.
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It is broadly of two kinds:
imitation of the manner of people's speaking; and reproduction of mannerisms, gestures, characteristics and idiosyncrasies of the concerned persons.
Imitation should cover the voice as well as gestures. Synchronized reproduction of both the features will have the highest entertainment value for the audience. The items of mimicry should be brief, as it is a solo show. Mimicry comprises imitation of public figures, actors, actresses, singers, birds, animals, and sound of music instruments, airplane, scooter, siren, car, motor bike, Rail engine, telephone, etc.
Well-known Indian artists in mimicry are: Sunil Pal, Dilip Khanna, Nitin Keni, Srikant Rao, Johny Lever, Navin Prabhakar, Raju Srivastava of Mumbai, Anup and Sadhan of Kolkata, Neralla Venumadhav and Srinivos of Hyderabad, , Gopadkar of Mangalore, Dr.George Mathew Purayidom of Kerala, etc.
Potti Sriramulu Telugu University of Hyderabad runs a 1-year diploma course on mimicry. Mimicry is also needed for muppet shows as Gustakhi Maaf on NDTV, puppetry, since any object, used as a puppet, would need different voice patterns for animation. The mimicry artists like me have been pressing for recognition of their art as most have spent decades perfecting their skills in not just mimicking but also creating lines that have people in splits. Attempts by the State to remove human stress through this art are no doubt laudable. The initiative by Channel Star One in bringing out The Great Indian Laughter Challenge is an appreciative effort where many Mimicry Artistes have found a platform to get recognition and many have able to get good assignments and a career in Electronic Media. Read other articles on how
to improve your voice and hope your journey in this voicing
arena continues for long with success.
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