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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Thrills, roars and cheers under a giant marquee

Rambo Circus pitches a tent in MMR Mumbai : Mumbaikars are thronging to rediscover the joys of stunning, live entertainment as the familiar Rambo Circus has pitched a tent in Borivali West, before it shifts to Navi Mumbai from December 2.   This is billed as the first major full-scale season post-Covid-19 pandemic, which had led to a near washout of shows owing to social-distancing norms and public fears. The tent is now attracting a strong public response, said Rambo Circus Director and...

Thrills, roars and cheers under a giant marquee

Rambo Circus pitches a tent in MMR Mumbai : Mumbaikars are thronging to rediscover the joys of stunning, live entertainment as the familiar Rambo Circus has pitched a tent in Borivali West, before it shifts to Navi Mumbai from December 2.   This is billed as the first major full-scale season post-Covid-19 pandemic, which had led to a near washout of shows owing to social-distancing norms and public fears. The tent is now attracting a strong public response, said Rambo Circus Director and owner Sujit Dilip.   “We get good crowds on weekends and holidays, but weekdays are still a struggle. Our fixed expenses are around Rs. One Crore per month. Costs have gone up nearly ten times on all fronts in the last five years, and the 18% GST is killing. We manage around 1,500 shows annually, but barely break even, with wafer-thin margins,” said Dilip, 50.   The logistics alone are staggering. Rambo Circus travels across India with an 80-member troupe of acrobats, aerialists, sword balancers, jugglers, jokers, rigging crews, support staff, massive equipment, and a few mechanical animals.   “Many of my people have spent their entire lives under the tent. We live like a huge family. I try to support their children’s education, medical needs and help them build some financial stability. But without resources, it is becoming increasingly difficult,” said Dilip, his voice weary after decades of struggle for survival.   He reminisced of the golden era of Indian circus, around the second half of the last century, when there were many grand, full-scale circuses, but today barely half a dozen professional setups remain - Gemini, Golden, Ajanta, Asian, Great Bombay, and Rambo - along with a few smaller, local outfits.   “Unlike most countries where circuses come under the Cultural Ministry, India offers no institutional identity or support. I am invited as a jury member to several top annual international circus festivals. I feel sad as not a single Indian artist features on global stages. We just have no backing here,” Dilip told The Perfect Voice in a free-wheeling chat.   He said the decline accelerated after the ban on live animal performances nearly 20 years ago in India. In contrast, many foreign circuses still feature elephants, horses, bears, zebras, llamas, tigers, leopards, lions, and exotic birds - though most face heavy resistance from animal-rights groups.   “Moreover, ticket rates in India are among the lowest in the world, without tax concessions. In foreign circuses, even in smaller countries, tickets start at Rs 10,000 per head. We can’t dare match that…” he rued.   Yet, the thirst to lure audiences remains undiminished. Rambo Circus now leans on technology and innovation, featuring a mechanical elephant, a giraffe on stilts, stuffed zebras, deer, bears and horses, and has commissioned a Japanese company to design a robotic lion to perform tricks.   To make the shows more interactive, MoC – a tall senior joker – invites the young audience members into the ring to try small acts like skipping, jumping, or dancing with help from the midget clowns, and the kids’ shrieks of joy echo through the tent, as their parents furiously click videos and selfies.   Dilip recalled that during the pandemic lockdown, when survival seemed impossible, Rambo Circus pioneered online ticketed shows, selling nearly 50,000 virtual tickets - the highest among circuses worldwide at that time, and earned praise by international peers.   “We are swimming alone… For us, it’s not just entertainment. It is art, heritage, livelihood, identity, and passion - and we will fight for a dignified existence,” Dilip said quietly.   Rambo Circus’ emotional tug at PM’s heart Rambo Circus Director and owner Sujit Dilip appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help save this art form with a huge potential to generate jobs, discover talents, earn massive revenues and foreign exchange.   “We urge the PM and ICCR to give Indian circuses a formal status, affordable venues for our shows, extend bank loans, opportunities for skill-upgradation, foreign collaborations and inclusion under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ CSR list. Many corporates wish to help, but current rules prevent it,” Dilip told The Perfect Voice .   He recalled how, during Covid-19, Rambo Circus launched online shows and sold nearly 50,000 tickets, proving the potential of Indian circus talent and earning acclaim worldwide for his innovation. “Our dream is to make India’s circuses world-class, and we need government support to achieve this,” he said.   History of circuses – Roman Arenas to open maidans The name ‘circus’ had its origins in ancient Rome, where chariot races, gladiator clashes, displays/deadly fights between wild animals and condemned humans enraptured audiences in huge open arenas. Later, circuses began modestly in 1768 with horse tricks performed by Philip Astley, a London cavalryman. Then, came the modern version of live performances by horses/ponies in the US in 1793, and in the 1830s, wild animals were introduced.   Many Hollywood films featured circuses as the backdrop. The most memorable ones are: Charlie Chaplin’s “The Circus” (1928); Walt Disney’s “Dumbo’ (1941); Cecile B. DeMille’s 2 Oscar Award-winning “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952); biopic on P.T. Barnum “The Greatest Showman” (2017), et al.   Bollywood’s own legendary ringside acts were in films like Raj Kapoor’s “Mera Naam Joker” (1970); “Chandralekha” (1948); “Appu Raja” (1989); “Circus Queen” (1959); “Shikari” (1991); “Dhoom 3” (2013); and the howlarious circus climax in Firoz A. Nadiadwala’s “Phir Hera Pheri” (2006), etc.

Nerves of Steel

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Vikram Misri, India’s Foreign Secretary, did not pound the lectern nor did he reach for jingoistic soundbites. Instead, he dismissed Pakistan’s wild accusations with quiet derision - “ludicrous”, “frivolous”, “a deranged fantasy” (in his latest press conference). His words often cut sharper than missiles.


It was Misri’s unfazed tone, precise, firm and utterly devoid of triumphalism, that has stood out during the briefings, his voice full of clipped restraint amid the thunder of missiles and misinformation.


“We have defended and reacted in a responsible and measured fashion,” he said during a daily briefing post-Sindoor, brushing aside Pakistan’s theatrics with a diplomat’s scalpel.

Misri’s words matter. He represents not just the Indian government’s formal voice abroad but also its inner logic which has been a mixture of resolve and restraint.


His career has tracked some of the most volatile turns in South Asia’s post-Cold War geopolitics. And now, as India faces a Pakistan seemingly more willing to provoke and less able to calculate the costs, Misri is the man chosen to give India’s response both gravitas and coherence.


Born in Srinagar in 1964, Misri grew up in the shadow of conflict in Jammu and Kashmir. After schooling in Gwalior and a degree in history from Delhi University’s Hindu College, he completed an MBA at XLRI, Jamshedpur, briefly working in advertising before finding his calling in diplomacy.


His talent for quiet efficiency earned him the trust of three prime ministers - I.K. Gujral, Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi. In a system where proximity to power often breeds notoriety or missteps, Misri instead built a reputation for being unflappable, discreet and clinically well-briefed.


Internationally, his career reads like a checklist of strategic flashpoints. He was Deputy High Commissioner in Sri Lanka during tense times, Ambassador to Spain and later to Myanmar, and finally India’s envoy in Beijing during one of the chilliest periods in Sino-Indian relations (2019–2021), which included the bloody Galwan clash. As Deputy National Security Adviser from 2022 to mid-2024, he handled strategic affairs at a time when India’s foreign posture was hardening under pressure from both China and Pakistan.


When Pakistan, reeling under Operation Sindoor, turned its ire towards Indian cities and temples with missiles and accusations, Misri dubbed Pakistan’s attempts to divide India among communal lines a “deranged fantasy that only the Pakistani state can come up with.” That acidulous turn of phrase, wrapped in officialese, was vintage Misri.


His calm presence has helped New Delhi project an image of maturity even as its armed forces hit back hard. The bombing of eight Pakistani military sites in retaliation for cross-border attacks marked one of the most audacious Indian operations in recent years. Yet Misri’s message was not of aggression, but of inevitability.


Behind the scenes, Misri has been deeply involved in shaping India’s diplomatic push to highlight Pakistan’s double game to the world which is courting bailouts from the IMF while subsidising terror groups. As a son of Kashmir, Misri knows well that real national security lies not in chest-thumping but in clarity. Today, India is a country that walks the knife-edge between strategic patience and assertive posture. In Vikram Misri, it has found a custodian of both.

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