Chennai: Animal ban brings in foreign circus talents

CHENNAI: Ban on animals in circus and change of venue from the popular SIAA grounds to Island Grounds, which is less accessible to public, is giving a tough time to circus managers in getting collections during Pongal.

Talking about the income and expenses on running a circus, the managing director of Jumbo Circus, Shaji Lal said, “We spend '1 lakh to '1.4 lakh daily on the circus. With the ban on animals being used to perform, collections have come down by 30 to 40 per cent. To improve it, we have brought in artistes from Africa and our shows, which are held in 15 cities across the country, are held during festivals.”

“This time in Tamil Nadu, following the ban on jalikattu, ban on animals has been strict. Also, the venue has changed to Island Grounds from the usual SIAA grounds near Chennai Central. This is pretty far and not as accessible as Central,” he added.

Circus managers are now relying on festive crowd and foreign performers to improve collections.

Antony and his troupe are students of a college in Tanzania. Trained in acrobatics and gymnastics, they have been performing for Jumbo Circus for the past seven years.

“We work on contract basis for six months. We perform acrobatics, gymnastics and fire dance,” he said.

There are performers from Nepal and Africa, and Manipur, Assam and West Bengal too. On the second day of Pongal holidays, children accompanied by their parents rushed to circus venue.

Of the 30 shows performed, kids were enticed by those involving artistes swallowing and walking under fire and shows performed on cycles.

“Our shows in Chennai witness maximum crowd during Pongal holidays. Compared to previous years, this year has not been great, looking at the past week but since yesterday, the crowd is quite good,” according to in-charge of Jumbo Circus, Suresh Babu.