Hanumanthappa Road, Gandhinagar

Sandalwood Friday Movie Release Series: 
Character Artists Outside Namma Theatres - The Snake Charmer

This guy is a charmer and not just of snakes. Every Friday, the day movies release and the fans hit the streets of Gandhinagar, he mesmerises them with his show that begins at 9am outside Sam's Fashion, opposite Sukh Sagar and National Market. 

He draws in the crowd with stories about how he took his Cobra personally to visit Sandalwood star homes to bless them just before a movie release. The star is usually the one who is having a release that week much to the delight of the fans. 

With a snake hidden in his basket, he engages the crowd with stories of the captive reptile's miracles and roles it has played in movies. He also uses props like pigeons, colourful seeds (blessed ones again) which he hands out to people, to keep the audience glued to his show. 

Once the audience is starry eyed with stories about how stars became stars and made their crores with reptilian blessing, he makes his few rupees blessing the audience. 

But the most interesting part of the performance are the stories around the snake he weaves, before he reveals it to the audience. The climax. (He didn't allow me to photograph the snake - he said that my eyes would be go blind if I looked into the snake's eyes with my camera)

I have seen his show thrice and each time he had a different performance. With his charming way with words and innovation, he would most probably be able to write better scripts than the multiple copies of the same violence filled scripts being dished out these days.   

 

Another character artist found outside Gandhinagar theatres - Dasappa

The Which Main? What Cross? The Exhibition - Is on until May 31st.

F&B Restaurant, Papanna Street, St Marks Road (on the right, soon after SBI).
Ph: 080 - 40 333 888

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