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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.

Radical Prescription

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When Dr. Jay Bhattacharya stepped into the political maelstrom of the COVID-19 pandemic, he wasn’t just another epidemiologist offering cautious public health guidance. He became a lightning rod, an academic insurgent who challenged the prevailing orthodoxy of lockdowns and mass quarantines, earning both ardent followers and vocal detractors. Now, as the newly minted director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under President Donald Trump, Bhattacharya finds himself in yet another storm, this time at the helm of America’s most powerful medical research institution, grappling with funding freezes and a divided scientific community.


Born in Kolkata in 1968, Bhattacharya’s journey to prominence reads like an improbable blend of medical expertise, economic insight and ideological provocation. His family immigrated to the United States when he was young, and by the time he reached Stanford University, he had set himself on an unorthodox path that straddled the realms of medicine and economics. He earned a medical degree and a Ph.D. in economics, an unusual dual credential that shaped his approach to public health as both a physician and a policy thinker.


His rise through Stanford’s ranks was meteoric. A professor of health policy and a senior fellow at multiple Stanford institutions, Bhattacharya built a career studying the economics of healthcare, aging, and the well-being of vulnerable populations. But it was the pandemic that catapulted him into the limelight and into controversy.


In October 2020, he co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, an incendiary document that advocated against blanket lockdowns, arguing instead for “focused protection” of the elderly and vulnerable while allowing COVID-19 to spread among healthier populations to build natural immunity. At the time, when government after government was implementing harsh restrictions, his stance was nothing short of heretical. The NIH’s then-director, Francis Collins, and White House advisor Anthony Fauci publicly denounced the declaration as “dangerous” and “unethical.”


For Bhattacharya, however, the lockdowns were an even greater moral failing. He believed they disproportionately harmed the working class, deepened inequality, and had devastating consequences for children kept out of school. He framed his arguments not just as a scientific disagreement but as a question of social justice - a rhetorical shift that made him a hero to libertarians and skeptics of government overreach.


His recent nomination as NIH director, confirmed by a narrow 53-47 Senate vote, signals Trump’s broader agenda to shake up the scientific establishment. At his confirmation hearing, Bhattacharya promised to restore “trust in public science institutions” and cultivate “a culture of respect for free speech in science.” His supporters see him as a necessary reformer, someone who will push back against groupthink and politicization within the NIH. His critics fear his iconoclastic tendencies could undermine public health messaging and deepen the distrust sown during the pandemic years.


Yet Bhattacharya, for all his defiance, is no mere political provocateur. His scholarship is vast and deeply respected, with over 135 peer-reviewed articles spanning medicine, law, and public health. His research into physician payment models and healthcare spending has shaped policy discussions for years. But his new role demands more than academic rigor—it requires navigating the complex, often brutal world of Washington politics, where funding battles and ideological clashes define the future of medical research.


Will Bhattacharya’s tenure mark the beginning of a bold new chapter for the NIH, or will his maverick instincts spark further turmoil in an already fractured landscape? As he takes the reins of America’s premier medical research institution, one thing is clear: the debate over public health is far from over, and Jay Bhattacharya remains at its center.

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