The world behind the glamour of the circus

Kamal Circus, which is now camped in Shidlaghatta with daily performances, is like a mini Indian republic. It has artistes from various parts of India - Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Uttar Pradesh.

“This is our school, our life and livelihood. I was born in a tent and will spend my life here,” says Mohammed Farook, a trapeze artiste.

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The circus always had an aura of glamour. Children wanted to join the circus after seeing the feats of people and animals. Children of the past generation loved reading stories by Enid Blyton such as Circus Days Again, A Circus Adventure, about the adventures of a number of children who travel along with the circus over a season.

But what is not generally transparent is the life of the circus artistes behind the glamour. There have been occasional films such as Kamal Hasan’s Tamil film Apoorva Sahodarangal (dubbed as Appu Raja in Hindi) in which one of the dual roles of Kamal Hasan is that of a dwarf clown. Raj Kapoor’s Mera Naam Joker is a film about a clown who must make his audience laugh at the cost of his own sorrows.

Distant journey

Suman Tamang and Surabi Samanth, who perform acrobatics with their rubber-like bodies, hail from Assam. Trapeze artiste Mohammed Farook is from West Bengal, while bike stunt artiste Ramzan is from Gujarat.

Ashik, who rides the bike in the ‘well of death’ (a wooden globe) is from Tadepalligundam of West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh.  The man behind this circus, is its owner Ramannappa, who hails from Mulbagal of Kolar district.

Like nomads they go from place to place, pitching their tent for a month in one place. There is a tent for each family which serves as a place for cooking, devotion, sleeping, water storage and watching television.

‘Support artistes’

The animals which entertain in the circus including dogs, horses, camels and goats also live among the artistes. Their day-to-day needs are taken care of by their owners. They send money to their families in home town.

Circus owner Ramanappa says that we are a family of 50 persons in the circus. “Although we come from different parts of the country, we are like one big family,” he adds.