Gemini Sankaran, whose Gemini Circus enthralled many generations of Indians with entertainment consisting of trained animal acts and exhibitions of human skill and daring, has died, family sources said on Monday.
He was 99.
One of the pioneers of the Indian circus industry, Sankaran, who was born in Kolassery, a village in this north Kerala district in 1924, was trained under noted circus artist Keeleri Kunhikannan for three years. He later joined the military and retired after Second World War. Subsequently, Sankaran joined M K Raman’s circus school in Chirakkara, and became an aerialist — someone who walks a tightrope or does trapeze acts — and gymnast on horizontal bars.
After working with various circus groups across the country, he purchased Vijaya Circus Company in 1951 for Rs 6,000 and rechristened it Gemini Circus.
The company grew by expanding its activities by inducting animals from African countries and recruiting trained artistes. Many dignitaries, including the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Presidents S Radhakrishnan and Zakir Hussain, visited his circus. In 1964, Sankaran led the first Indian circus delegation to an International Circus Festival held in the then Soviet Union. It was then Prime Minister Nehru who selected Gemini to represent the country in the festival. Recalling this incident, Sankaran once said his troupe was given a reception at Nehru’s official residence in New Delhi before it left for the former Communist nation for their performance.
Condoling the circus legend’s demise, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hailed Sankaran for having played a major role in popularising Indian circus globally.