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Many millennials might consider the circus a thing of a bygone era, a glamorous performance act to be viewed with nostalgia, yet another casualty to the shrinking attentions spans of the digital era. There’s no denying the niche that circuses have carved for themselves in the cultural space however, and those who’ve been to a circus performance in person have known the sense of magic and showmanship that the unique art exudes.
Arul Horizon, photojournalist at Indian Express, is someone who’s been privy to this magic, and what goes into it, more than others. His series ‘Off the Rings’ documents the performers and artistes of Rambo Circus and sheds light on their personal lives along with their over-the-top onstage personas; a colourful, delicate and poignant feat in photography.
Arul’s fascination with circuses goes back to his own childhood, a time when circuses were the after-school weekend treat. His parents would take him along, and when he was about seven, Arul admits, he was so taken by these vibrant characters onstage that he wanted to become a circus performer himself. “I’m glad that didn’t happen,” he laughs. “But I have developed a fondness for circuses that is probably going to last a lifetime.”
The initial idea for ‘Off the Rings’, he explains, started off as a project that would depict a day in the life of the circus, almost ten years ago. He started visiting the circus often, and making his acquaintance with the various people associated with the business. After a year and a half, he finally got the circus manager’s permission to photograph the performers behind the scenes, a liberty which helped him shed light on the difficult nature of this nomadic, contract-based job. “It was important to respect their privacy at the same time, and I would never shoot if the subject was uncomfortable with it,” Arul shares. “Today, ten years later, they have become like an extended family to me. Thanks to ‘Off the Rings’, there was also a sense of upliftment, since the series got international exposure, when I got invited to the prestigious International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo - this is like the Oscars of circuses, under the patronage of Princess Stephanie of Monaco.”
The circus captured in ‘Off the Rings’ is Rambo Circus, that Arul shot across various venues over four years, including Pune and Surat.
“One fine morning, I saw people coming and pitching tents and there was complete pandemonium as Rambo Circus started to set up. I found it fascinating, the bustle of activity, the intensely physical nature of some of the acts, the colourful and the performance-oriented - these are thing I’ve always been interested by. That’s where it started, I wanted to document the side of their lives that most audience members had probably not seen.”
Today, in the age of technology, we couldn’t help but enquire as to how many people still go to the circuses, and what the patronage has been like. “We’ve been saying for decades that circuses are a dying act, but I really don’t see it,” Arul opines. “Many circuses have been shut down because of their inability to run, but the main problem for this, I feel, is the lack of space in modern India. Circuses require sprawling lawns and plenty of space for the performers to live and perform. I do feel that circuses have evolved over the years though. Rambo circus is the first of its kind to have performed in Prithvi theatre recently, something I was lucky to document. Circuses are going to be around forever, if you ask me, they’ll just keep evolving with the times.”
As for his observations over the course of shooting Rambo circus, Arul says, “Circuses are actually very structured, something one might not immediately guess from the outside. There are a lot of restrictions imposed for their safety, which is important, as single women, generally trained from a young age, come in when they’re only about 18 years old. The company of girls are often the central act, and they get separate accommodation, and a separate caretaker. There’s a lot of discipline required to stick to schedule and make sure everything runs smoothly.”
Indian circuses also run on a contract-based model of six months up to a year, Arul shares, as opposed to their foreign counterparts, who perform much less regularly at a 15-20 show rate, in comparison. “There are also circus schools and clown schools abroad, and performers generally have a degree and a specialisation,” Arul explains the workings of this fascinating world. “I feel like it is actually treated like an art there, and given the importance it deserves, whereas for Indian performers it is more about earning a livelihood. For ten years I’ve been tracking the number of families in the circus and their dedication is immense, and all have very interesting stories.”
“Biju, for example, is an amazing clown,” Arul shares. “He’s even done a few movies and ads, and he’s a brilliant performer. He used to love a drink, though, and he generally drank a lot of country liquor; he was an alcoholic. The life of a clown is a strange cycle of joy and melancholy. I remember a few years ago, he was in the middle of a show when he got a call saying his wife had passed away. He went outside for a while and cried, but then wiped his tears and came back in and did the show. They had several shows that day and he kept alternating between the two, always coming back in to make people laugh. Whatever may happen, the show must go on.”
Arul also elaborated on how performers don’t normally get to see their families very often, usually once or twice a year between circus contracts. “That’s why many end up getting more attached to their troupes than their families. There was an old clown of 60-odd years, Manohar, who was from Assam. He died in Pune, and was entirely reluctant to go home because he loved the circus so much.”
Arul also recalls the story of a trapeze artist who broke his back and was bedridden for several months, the ultimately crippling for someone in his line. He was told he couldn’t do acrobatics anymore, so he ended up becoming a clown in the end.
As for how circuses have evolved over the last few years in India, Arul has quite a bit to contribute, “Most circuses used to have galleries, a backgate and a front gate plus wooden billboards out front. Today, galleries have been replaced with chairs and billboards with flexes. It used to take up to 8 trucks to store all the infrastructure and equipment but it can now be accommodated in a small box.
“There is also a major shortage today for manpower and labour, despite more more machinery being used for the tents, such as the use of a crane to pull the poles and to erect tents. There are 4-pole, 2-pole or 6-pole circuses - this is what defines the size of the circus and it can accommodate some 2000-3000 people. In India, we have the biggest circuses, and they’re not too expensive either, about Rs. 1000 maximum for metro cities.”
Circuses generally do up to upto four shows a day, he continues but there is a serious lack of government support for these institutions. Due to the lack of circus academies or clown schools, there is no formal education or training imparted to the performers, and the only circus academy in India which used to run out of a big auditorium in Kerala, is shutting down. In India, he adds, it’s generally the existing circus members who get new recruits, and while this used to happen at very young ages earlier, the Child Labour Law has succeeded in limiting this considerably.
“We have to respect the art of the circus,” Arul winds up. “It has a long tradition, and a history, of its own, and it’s a prestigious art that requires a lot of hard work. The UK brought the first circus to India and then we had the courage to replicate the shows and adapt them to local audiences. There’s a lot of blood and sweat and tears that goes into this, and we musn’t forget the contributions of performers like Damoo Dhotre, the world-famous animal trainer from Pune, and Keeleri Kunhikannan, the father of the Indian circus that have managed to make circus performances in India what they are, today. A lesser known aspect of Indian culture it might be, but it’s an important one all the same.”
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