As Colombian performer Jhean Carlos began performing daredevil stunts on top of the ‘Wheel of death’, everyone’s heart began thumping heavily. Every time, he jumped, spectators gazed with their mouth wide open and sighed in relief as he landed back safely. This is the most daredevil act of Rambo Circus show and Jhean Carlos has been performing this stunt for good number of years, at least 3 times a day.
Anu had been to a circus show in her childhood but I had never seen a circus show and for me, it has been one of the top bucket list items. Finally, on one fine Saturday morning, we saw a tiny newspaper advertisement of Rambo Circus being in our city, Bangalore and decided to go for the afternoon show.
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Full with excitement, we left early and reached the venue half an hour in advance. A magnificent tent with red and blue stripes tore apart the clear blues of the sky. A big font Rambo Circus written on the name board in bold and capital spoke of the legacy. At that time, there was no one on the ground except the circus support staff. We chit-chatted with them and came to know that some of them have been with the circus for over 10 years. They explained us how circus moves from city to city and so they move along with their families who too stay with the circus.
Show began at 1 PM and as we entered inside the tent, we found a big net at the center stage surrounded by circular rows of the chairs. Not many people had turned up even for a weekend show and most of the seats were vacant. Probably, demonetization had resulted in sparse audience and hence we get to pick up seat of our choice and quickly grabbed two seats with a clear view of the stage !
Suddenly a loud music breaks in and men dressed in bright florescent costumes take the center stage. They took the audience literally to a high and started with their act of flying trapeze. In a blink of eyes, there were men flying across the space above us. Our eyes glued to the frame in front of us as these acrobats flew in air from one pole to another, at times, catching each other mid air.
Then, began a series of daredevil performances as artists came one after another on the stage. Most of the artists are from India and Nepal only but there are few from Uzbekistan, Ethiopia and South America also. At one time, someone would cycle on one wheel or perform some magic tricks and then would come another performing acrobatics while walking on the rope.
Most skillful of all was the performance by this Uzbek artist who danced on top of a plank as he balanced multiple pipe pieces on top of the another. He balanced tactfully as he played with dumbbells and even performed stunts while keeping his balance intact.
We do not remember this artist’s name and could also not find him on Google. But, he was humble enough to get a snap with us 🙂
With sanctions on animals’ usage for circus performance, there were no elephants or tigers in the show. There was a quick show in which dogs lined up and jumped through the rings. At another time, came a donkey and then horse but we found none of them amusing. Thankfully, animals’s use for circus performance is going down.
Clown for the show too were quite average and could not generate an atmosphere of excitement in the crown. Though at times, they performed some acts which brought smiles but overall clown performance did not impress.
Most impressive of all was the performance of Jhean Carlos from South America as he performed stunts on top of the ‘Wheel of Death’. Audiences could not understand much till mysterious 2 ring mega structure kept on one side is brought on the stage. Two men dressed in white take up their place in the rings and started rolling the rings while walking in them. After sometime Carlos starts walking outside the ring. Our hearts missed a beat when he went high up in the air and landed on the rolling wheel. It was crazy, in simplest words!! No harness, No safety net. Respect to these artists who perform these death defying acts thrice a day to keep this art of Circus alive.
Circus is all about colors, lights, music, laughter and performance as the whole drama unfolds in front of you taking you to another magical world. We witnessed this magical world in real, thanks to Rambo Circus.
Rambo Circus Ticket Prices
Tickets ranged from Rs. 100 to Rs. 350 (Rs. 80 for children) depending on the seat distance from the center stage – closer the seat, higher the rates. We bought Rs. 200 ticket and were quite close to the stage. You can either book tickets online on www.bookmyshow.com or buy them on the spot. We bought tickets on the spot and could easily get the seat of our choice.
Show timings: Depends – Usually 3 shows (1 PM, 4 PM, 7 PM). You can inquire about show timings by calling them (Contact details as on the website of Rambo Circus).