Shadow Player. Magician. Illusionist.
Prahlad Acharya’s Speaking Shadows is a mesmerising world of hand shadows weaving highly entertaining and interactive tales from the animal and human world; where hands artistically encounter a source of light, to project on a large screen. A truly magical world ‘where shadows speak’ and come to life.
Prahlad Acharya is an internationally renowned shadow play artist and storyteller. A master magician and an accomplished ventriloquist, he is one of the few entertainers in the world who use only their bare hands to create an unbelievable world of light and shade.
Prahlad Acharya has performed Speaking Shadows – his amazing hand-shadow act around the globe, including Germany, Australia, Singapore, the Middle East, UK, Switzerland, and of course India. He is acknowledged to be among the very best in the world in what he does.
For two decades, Prahlad Acharya gained fame and fortune as a magician before he turned to shadow play full time. It was his four-minute shadow performance that led him to this decision. Three years ago when he was invited as part of an entourage of artists that were to showcase Indian art and culture and performed regularly for 8 months all over Germany, Acharya was astounded by the response he received from the Germans who loved the show where various animals came alive in shadows. He came back to India and shut himself in a dark room for almost 10 hours each day for the next six months, experimenting with light. “I decided to take up shadow play full-time because I realised there were just a handful who had taken to this art seriously when there was so much one could do with it,” he says.
Acharya’s shadow play is distinctive in style: detailing topped with folklore. “Shadows are all about angles, light and precision. Even a millimeter difference in positioning the fingers or changes in the angle of light will turn a tiger into a dog and man into a monkey,” explains Acharya.
So one can only imagine the exactitude of Acharya’s craft when, at the festival, he will have human-like shadows dancing to the tune of Mile sur mera tumhara. Acharya typically showcases two songs of six minutes each with numerous characters narrating many a tale. Go watch shadows come alive.
Show Time: Hands On Performance – The Pioneer (Sangeeta Yadav | May 24, 2015)
Shadows At His Fingertips – Bangalore Mirror (Harsha Bhat | January 06, 2014)
Top 6 Famous Magicians in India – Today Top Trends (Santosh Kumar | July 25, 2014)
ಪ್ರಹ್ಲಾದ್ ಆಚಾರ್ಯ ಸಿಂಗಪುರದಲ್ಲಿ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಸಿದ ಇಂದ್ರಜಾಲ – OneIndia Kannada (Rekha Hegde Balesar | October 21, 2013)
The Shadow Effect – The Hindu (Akila Kannadasan | August 28, 2012)
Storytelling Through Shadows – Times of India (Vaibhav Shastry | August 27, 2012)
The Magic of Showmanship – The Hindu (Rekha Menon | July 04, 2002)
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Prahlad Acharya 