Celebrating Chaplin the Adipur way

watched three consecutive shows, skipping work. He was fired from his job the next day.

Ashok discovered that he enjoyed copying the mannerisms of Chaplin’s most famous on-screen persona, The Tramp, and began paying homage to his idol.

“Earlier, I used to celebrate his birthday alone by just cutting a cake. But then my neighbours started asking me what I was doing so I told them about Charlie Chaplin,” he told AFP.

“Gradually people started joining me, and the numbers swelled,” added Ashok, a 70-year-old ayurvedic doctor. “We’ve done it for 44 years and this is the 45th.”

This year, Ashok was joined by roughly 300 others marching for the 129th anniversary of Chaplin’s birth, a solid turnout for the event that started with one man.

The suits were crumpled, and the ties badly knotted during the twohour-long procession.

Many had used black marker pens to draw on Chaplin’s trademark toothbrush moustache while others opted to stick on fake ones.

Children wore Chaplin face masks

while some carried life-sized cut-outs of the English-born filmmaker, as a stereo loaded onto a truck blasted out popular Bollywood songs.

“I was four when I started acting. My first memory is of climbing onto a camel (for the parade) as a young Charlie,” said Ashok’s grandson Talin Mavani, 18.

“We used to celebrate Chaplin’s birthday every year as if it was my birthday or my grandfather’s birthday.”

Talin is about to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps by succeeding Ashok as president of the Charlie Circle.

“We have a very wide-ranging variety of people in our club. The youngest is two years old while the oldest is 70,” Talin explained.

“To carry forward the legacy of my grandfather as leader of the Charlie Circle is a very big responsibility.” – AFP-Relaxnews