LIFE & CAREER
Indushree Raveendra (born 16th February 1986 in Bengaluru, India) is an Indian comic & singing ventriloquist, puppeteer, experimentalist, and TEDx Speaker. A family friend showed Indushree a coin magic trick when she was in 2nd grade, which sparked in her a passion for learning magic. Two years later, a monkey puppet caught Indushree’s eyes at a magic convention and she bought it for Rs.200 and thereby embarked on her journey to become the first female ventriloquist of India.
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Indushree completed her schooling at Stella Maris School, in 2002. She graduated with BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts-Painting), from Karnataka Chitra Kala parishath, College of Fine Arts in 2008. Eventually, she completed her M.S. in Communication (Master of Science in Communication) from Presidency College in 2013.
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Indushree started her television journey in 2003, on a cable network called “Siti Cable Live”. Her dummy acts would be aired every Friday for three consecutive years. She simultaneously started performing on “Choo Mantar”, Choo Mantar – a show consisting of magic and ventriloquism aired on Door Darshan in 2004. Her show filter coffee with Dinku (previously called Dinku Duniya) holds the record for the highest number of consecutive live ventriloquism shows aired on Zee kannada. The show was aired in the years 2006 & 2007. The 68 week long program saw Dinku in various disguises like software engineer, PSLV scientist, Aeronaut, hotel server, Soldier, lawyer, lover boy, politician and many other roles.
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Dasara, the festival of dolls, proved to be the ideal springboard for Indushree. Dinku, the dummy, narrated an imaginary array of political dolls arranged in such a manner as to present the idiosyncrasies of the political leaders that the respective dolls portrayed. The caustic comedy became the rage of the masses. The same scenario unfolded in the next two years too. ‘Indushree’s ventriloquism surpassed the combined efforts of all other humourists’ stated a Kannada Daily. Almost all the dialogues of those shows hogged front page headlines. These shows opened the doors of many channels and institutions for Indushree.
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Election times were invariably ‘Dinku Times’. ‘Maha Sangrama’, a contemporary political satire, was a bold attempt at calling a spade a spade. The no holds barred facts-repartee sojourn was a great hit of those days.
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Comedy kiladigalu: The ‘Go to’ program for those inclined towards humour enthralled with its variety. Dashavatarm was one such episode inspired by the versatile kamal Hasan’s movie of the same name. Dinku presented himself (itself) in ten different disguises. The dexterity and the deft presentation of various subjects was a treat to watch.
ACHIEVEMENTS
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Runner up of "Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega"
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Semifinalist of "India’s Got Talent"
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First ventriloquist to perform triple dummy and four dummy act
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First Female Magician of Karnataka
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Only artists to perform ventriloquism with a ten foot tall doll
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Top ranking artist in the field of Ventriloquism
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Only Indian ventriloquist to perform with a live dog
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Master of Repartee
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First ever ventriloquist to be mentioned in the India Book of Records.
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Only ventriloquist to adorn the pages of Limca Book of Records five times.
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First female ventriloquist to represent India in the Vent Haven Convention at Kentucky, America.
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Has performed on Star News (English), News-X, News Nation, TV-9, Udaya Tv, ETV, Kasturi, Suvarna News, News-9, Samaya News, Doordarshan, Colors, NDTV Prime, Sony, etc.
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Performed in America, Australia, Singapore, Muscat, Bahrain, Qatar, Abu-dhabi, Dubai, Thailand, Germany, France and Holland.
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Tallest talking doll – This was one of the live shows performed in Mysore Dasara. It portrayed the ten foot tall giant Mahishasura in conversation with the ventriloquist. The novelty of the act stirred the imaginations of the people.
SOCIAL WORK
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Performed Burnt Alive Act for AIDS Awareness
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Menstrual hygiene awareness
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H1N1 Awareness programs
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Dengue Awareness program
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Waste management awareness programs
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Performed in kidwai -for cancer affected kids and adults
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performed for inmates in the Jail
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Program for Aids affected and infected kids
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RTO- awareness show for government School children – educating the children about road sense and road safety in a humourous way.
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Correction center for Kids – A program to bring back the kids to the right path
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Performance in Orphanages – A rare fun time for the oppressed.
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Perfromed in Old age homes – a temporary relief from all their worries and pains.
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Performed in Karunashraya – a place for the terminal ill.
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Awareness show for kids about good touch bad touch and child helpline
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awareness show to encourage eco friendly ganesha
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Awareness show during election to encourage people to vote
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Environment awareness
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performed on World Thalassaemia Day to spread awareness about the same.