Ravi Katpadi wears extravagant costumes every year during Janmashtami and collects money for sick children. He has raised over ₹90 lakh so far and helped 66 children in need.
Published Aug 18, 2022 | 6:02 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 18, 2022 | 7:42 PM
Udupi 'monster man' Ravi Katpadi dressed as a character from the 2009 Hollywood film Avatar (Supplied)
When this reporter called Udupi’s ‘monster man’ Ravi Katpadi, he was gearing up for the upcoming festival of Krishna Janmashtami where every year, people from all the neighbouring villages flock up to see him dressed as a monster.
Ravi has to be the only monster children reach out to, as in the past eight years, he has collected over ₹90 lakh in funds and has helped more than 65 children in need. He hopes to reach the ₹1 crore mark this year and help at least six more children.
Ravi, who has added his village Katpadi to his name, dresses up every year for Vitla Pindi.
Vitla Pindi, a popular festival in Udupi — a city in coastal Karnataka — is celebrated every year during Janmashtami where locals are seen flocking the streets wearing tiger costumes.
Ravi Katpadi, 41, recollected the first instance of him wearing a Spiderman costume 12 years ago.
Ravi is a resident of Katpadi village in Udupi district (Supplied)
“I was scared of my father’s reaction. He was not happy looking at the paint on me, but the next day there was a picture of me in our local newspaper and that feeling was unexplainable. The following year I dressed up as a character from the film Avatar and was featured again in the newspaper. I was on cloud nine, and my father too came to terms with my choice,” Ravi told South First.
His love for English films is evident with every character he has recreated. Over the years he has taken inspiration from characters in various Hollywood movies including Sarkoja from John Carter and Octopus monster Davy Jones from the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise.
Ravi Katpadi dressed as a character from the film franchise Pirates of the Caribbean (Supplied)
He started collecting funds four years later, after he was touched by a video of a woman who was pleading for help for her daughter.
The child was born with a weak arm and needed an urgent operation. Ravi, a labourer by profession, had the will to help but felt powerless due to his financial situation.
Ravi Katpadi decided to collect funds that year during the festival in his costume. His father appreciated the gesture but also reminded him not to have high hopes.
Ravi along with his seven friends set out with a picture of the girl and a small purse on the day. They were not expecting the kind of response they received from the public.
“We had to buy another purse on the way. We came back with our pant pockets bursting with money. We had many ₹10, ₹20, and ₹50 notes, and we only did the counting after returning home. We collected ₹1,04,810 that day. Never in my life had I seen that much money in my house,” said Ravi.
He gave the money that was collected to the child’s mother for the operation.
The operation went on for seven hours. After learning about Ravi’s selflessness, the doctor who operated on the girl refused to charge any fees.
Ravi Katpadi and his friends go by the name ‘Ravi and gang’ and work together to collect funds (Supplied)
Word spread after this incident and applications would directly come to his house from all neighbouring cities. At times, hospitals would contact him and inform him about children who were urgently in need of operations.
Ravi is not connected to any organisation or NGO. He manages the entire exercise with his friends. They provide help to children up to the age of 12. He believes that these young children are the future of our country and they have a lot to achieve; so they should be helped.
Since then Ravi and his seven friends have expanded to 110 people. They call themselves ‘Ravi and gang’ and have helped over 65 children.
Over the years, Ravi has been felicitated more than 500 times but he still lives in his small family house and works as a labourer.
Ravi Katpadi’s costume inspired by John Carter’s Sarkoja (Supplied)
He mentions that not even a single rupee collected to help the children is used for any other purpose. No one is even allowed to buy a bottle of water using the fund money.
When asked how he is able to afford the extravagant costumes, Ravi said, “I have a daily wage job and I keep aside a set amount every day. Sometimes my brother or friends help but it’s never from the funds collected, that is only for children and their treatment.”
Explaining the process of preparing for the costumes, Ravi said that the ideation starts a month after Janmashtami ends. They start by looking at various inspirations, and his friends send him different characters to choose from.
Once they decide on a character, Ravi’s artist looks into YouTube videos for reference. They create a dummy doll of the character the size of a small water bottle.
Ravi Katpadi has to be in these costumes for two days until the festivities are over (Supplied)
The tedious task of creating a costume starts at least three months in advance. It begins with a dye applied on Ravi for a few hours. This is followed by Plaster of Paris work. On top of that, clay work is done followed by the addition of fibre and rubber. The entire mould is kept to dry and later painted on with more details.
The materials for the costume are costly and sometimes have to be imported from different countries. Last year, it was imported from the US and Hong Kong, said Ravi.
The materials used in the costume are sometimes imported from different countries (Supplied)
The costumes are unique and different every year and kept a secret until the day of the festival.
Many flock to get a glimpse of the costume each year.
Whenever people ask me about the costume, every time I reply with the same answer. “This year it’s simple,” says Ravi.
Ravi’s skin faces the brunt of very harsh chemicals every year, which puts his health at risk (Supplied)
Without disclosing many details about this year’s costume, Ravi said, “This is probably the most difficult one yet. I tried it on for a minute, I absolutely couldn’t breathe. But this is for a good cause and God is with me.”
He also said for this year’s look, his artist, Harish from Mangaluru commissioned make-up artists who have previously worked on S S Rajamouli’s films RRR and Bahubali.
Ravi will wear the entire costume for 48 hours without consuming food or water. Year after year, Ravi’s skin has faced the brunt of the harsh chemicals and materials used. But his will to make a change for the children keeps him going.
Ravi goes by the wise words of his father who he lost six years ago, “Upkara madu adre upadre mad beda (Help but don’t cause trouble for others),” which keeps him grounded to this day.
