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India’s only circus academy downs its shutters for want of students.
India’s only circus academy which opened in 2010 has downed it shutters. The Supreme Court verdict banning children below the age of 14 to work as child artistes dealt a blow to the academy. Besides, the promised government support of land and funds were withdrawn.
Worldwide the circus business is struggling to stay afloat. Blame it on changing preference of the audiences towards other forms of entertainment or the rapidly decreasing attention span that causes boredom to sit through 3 hours of performances. What was once a wonder world full of tricks, animals, jokers and stunts set inside a tent is fast becoming a world which not many people are aware of and don’t wish to be acquainted with.
The situation is no different in India; the circus business has already been on its last legs since the last few years with big names like the Rajkamal Circus, Rambo Circus, and Royal Circus etc. slowly vanishing. There was a ray of hope when India’s only circus academy opened in Thalassery, also known as the cradle of the Indian circus industry in August 2010. However, sadly it has downed its shutters leaving its students stranded.
The academy, housed in Rajkamal Talkies, a movie theatre at Chirakkuni village near Thalassery, is now completely deserted. Even the circus tents and the equipment have been dismantled and lie in a state of despair in the theatre compound.
“The government cannot run an institute with a single student. The academy has been closed.’’ says K Raghavan, 68, trainer.
The academy was established with the explicit goal of training children below the age of 14 in acrobatics. Residential hostel facilities for the children were arranged in a rundown house in the theatre compound itself with all children attending the government higher secondary school in Palayad. The movie theatre hall, owned by Rajkamal circus group, transformed into the training ground.
Children of circus artistes from Nepal, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu formed the majority of the students at the academy. “There were sessions in body fitness in the morning and evening, which were held without affecting their general education. There was no proper syllabus for the academy and the government did not provide any infrastructure for the institute,” says K Raghavan, a former circus artiste who retired 12 years ago.
“If this art has to be kept alive, the academy has to be revived. As it was formed under the previous LDF government in 2010, we hope that the new regime under the LDF would continue its patronage of the circus and look at the academy through a different perspective,” says K Raghu, a member of the governing body of the circus academy.
The previous LDF state government had Okayed an amount of ₹1 crore for the academy, however, the finance department objected to continuing the funds. The existing proposal to acquire 4 hectares of land and establish a permanent facility for the academy was also dumped. The final nail in the coffin came in the form of a Supreme Court verdict in April 2011 banning employment of children below the age of 14 as child artistes. As children began leaving the academy, the trainers followed suit. Of the 5 trainers appointed in 2010, only one is stuck around.
Circus banners like the Gemini had initially supported the academy by bearing a part of its expenditure and had encouraged children from circus families to enrol at the academy. Raghu, a manager with Gemini, says the students who have abandoned the institute appear to have joined the industry. “We have difficulty in getting new candidates in Kerala as parents are not willing to send their children for this life,” he says.
Read the original story by Shaju Philip at www.indianexpress.com.