KANNUR: The cremation ceremony of circus maven Gemini Shankaran will take place at Payyambalam at 11 am. Shankaran yesterday died exactly at 12 am midnight in a private hospital in Kannur. He was just months shy of reaching 100 years.

Born in 1924 near Thallasery in Kannur, Shankaran was a seventh-standard dropout. He later met circus pioneer Keelaeri Kunjikannan and remained his disciple for three years learning the knacks of the trade. Sankaran had an addiction to circus but never hoped to turn it into a niche. He started a grocery shop but stopped it soon as the business went south. He later joined the army and was sent to fight the world war. In 1946 Shankaran reached back to the shores of Thallasery and continued circus along with M K Raman.

He started his career as an artist in Boss Lion Circus in Kolkata and was an expert in the horizontal bar and flying trapeze. After riding the tumultuous waters in business, Shankaran started circus companies such as Gemini, Jumbo, and the Great Royal Circus which hit the crescendo among viewers during the erstwhile times.