the art of mimicking and entertainment....

‘mim·ic·ry’ (noun) – is the act, practice or art of mimicking.

In evolutionary biology, mimicry is the similarity of one species to another which protects one or both.This similarity can be in appearance, behaviour, sound, scent and location, with the mimics found in similar places to their models.  An impressionist or a mimic is a performer whose act consists of imitating the voice and mannerisms of others. The word usually refers to a professional comedian/entertainer who specializes in such performances.

A good mimic - Mayilswamy  even before he came to the screen was known for his mimicry releases, especially the "Sirippo Sirippu". ~ later he featured in Kanni Raasi in 1985. There are some more who are popular for their mimicry.

One good movie that I still remember is ‘Chanakyan’ – a Malayalam movie  released in 1989 - directed by T K Rajeev Kumar, and starring Kamal Haasan, Jayaramand Urmila Matondkar. In that, the hero falls in love with the daughter of a politician who naturally does not approve it.  The hero  takes the help of a mimicry artist Jayaram using him cleverly for revenge.  When a particular live programme is on, with technology they interrupt the speech and telecast a mimicked speech instead – reeling out false promises which eventually derails the politician.  

Years later comes the news that a woman impersonated Congress President Sonia Gandhi so successfully on the phone that she fooled Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati – though it does appear that she may just have bitten off more than she can chew. According to reports,  the  alleged hoax caller, pretending to be Gandhi, told Vahanvati she was calling from New York – where Gandhi was actually staying at that time – managed to convincingly sound unhappy over what she said was the AG’s handling of several crucial and high profile cases, including those related to coal allocations. The powers that be are not amused and it is reported that a CBI inquiry has been instituted into the matter and the MHA was also looking into it. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shindeconfirmed such a hoax call had been made and that the matter was referred to the home ministry. He declined to give further details.

It is also reported that no FIR has been filed and the police inquiry is at a very early stage. 

In every other TV channel, there are programmes where small time and big actors try their hand [or voice] in mimicking.  Sometime back in a TV show, a senior actor Sri VS Raghavan had this to say……… “‘every other plays to imitate / mimic MGR … they also try to mimic VSR………. But that actually is very wrong and hurting the sentiments………. when people mimic MGR they try to speak in broken voice……. Remember MG Ramachandran had good voice till he was shot in that unfortunate event by MR Radha.  Is it not belittling a great man – trying to speak the way he did after an attempt on his life… ??’”.  He also suggested that such mimicry artists should try and reproduced the lengthy dialogues he spoke on his hey days, instead of ridiculing elderly people.

A point that needs to be taken in the proper perspective.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar