Joao Bosco da Cruz Menezes, popularly known as Bosco Menezes (BM) on the tiatr stage, was born on January 30, 1953. Initially, he sought admission at Iscola de Padr Jose Vaz, Cortalim, and at the tender age of 8, moved to St Inez, where he completed ‘segundogravo’ at IscolaPrimaria at Taleigao.
Although Bosco garnered mastery over the Portuguese language through primary education during the Portuguese rule, he joined the Ideal High School in Taleigao in 1967 and picked up the nuances of the English language there. During his tenure in that school, ample opportunities crossed his path that helped him showcase his natural talents.“During events like the Annual Day and school gatherings, I loved performing, be it songs and dances or even comedy skits,” he reveals.
“Late Daniel, Marcelino and Joaquim would present short plays during Carnival festivities; they were door-to-door presentations. I loved being a part of those, in colourful clothes, decked up as a girl,” he recounts. Later, Anthony da Silva from Miramar took over and started scripting tiatrs of his own and he would invite Bosco to direct them.
On the occasion of the feast of the Holy Cross, tiatrs of Anthony da Silva would be staged at Tonca, St Inez and Succor and Bosco was fortunate to direct around 13 tiatrs of da Silva. After Anthony da Silva stepped down, Anthony Ribeiro took over and presented around 11 tiatrs, all of which were ably directed by Bosco.
Over a period of time, after mastering the nuances of acting and singing, Bosco joined the Cezar Dramatic Troupe and acted in around nine tiatrs presented by the director at Kala Academy’s annual tiatr competition. He says that he was fortunate to prove his calibre as a comedian and won awards on two occasions.
Taking note of his acting skills, especially in the role of a comedian, Santan Viegas from Taleigaoroped him in for seven of his tiatrs, which were then presented at St Inez, Tonca, Santa Cruz and Dona Paula. He later stepped onto the professional stage in A M Pacheco’s tiatr ‘Kantto’, followed by Jerome de Mapusa’stiatr ‘Buniyadicho Fator’, Premanand Sangodkar’s two tiatrs ‘Dolle Dhampche Adim’ and ‘Panvl Mhojem Chuklem’ and late J J Pereira from Bastora’s two tiatrs – ‘Padr Jose Vaz ani Ceylon’ and Padr Agnel ani Pilar’. He also acted in Femina Khaunte’s tiatr ‘Konn Foslo?’
Bosco also acted in late Fr Freddy J da Costa’s tiatr ‘Khata Pita Dev Dita’ and featured in Carlos Fernandes’ and Cezar D’Melo’s CDs ‘Apsvarthi’ and ‘Vachumia Muzgar’, respectively. In 1980, he made his appearance in Hindi films ‘Meri Biwi Ki Shaadi’, ‘Hasina Mann Jayegi’, ‘Golmal II’, ‘Chup Chupke’ and ‘Jackpot’ besides Marathi drama ‘Hi Bhuk Bhavnachi’, film ‘Ringa Ringa’, Telugu film ‘K D’ and Konkani film ‘Enemy’ .
Gaining mastery over comedy, Bosco scripted and presented 13 tiatrs in the villages and he also had the opportunity of penning and presenting five musical plays (songit khell), namely ‘Adhar’, ‘Noxibantlem Chukona’, ‘Xikop’ and two others on AIR with the assistance of producer late Allan Costa. Also, for almost seven years, he also penned and presented ‘Bolkanvacheo Gozali’ and performed in national programmes on AIR.
Not only on the tiatr stage, but even on the playground, Bosco has excelled as a volleyball player while serving for Victorians Sports Club at Carmabhatt, Tonca. It was his initiative that helped with the formation of the club and his services as a smasher helped him win prizes as best smasher, best player, promising player and all-round player.
Bosco was chosen by the All India Civil Services (AICS) authorities to represent the team in 13 states which include Kerala, Orrisa, Tripura, Kasmir, Mumbai and other states. During Bosco’s service in the volleyball club, P C Sancoalcar was serving as a director of the accounts department and would regularly come to watch matches at Taleigao.
Sancoalcar spotted Bosco’s exceptional talent on the playing field and wished to help him in whatever way he could. During that period, when Bosco was serving on a temporary basis at the Secretariat during assembly sessions, he received a call from the employment exchange. After answering the interview, Sancoalcar asked him if he was interested in being employed and he was immediately absorbed as class IV employee and retired as head clerk.
While serving in the accounts department in the Directorate of Accounts for almost 36 years, Bosco always took the lead to pen and present one-act plays, songs and dances during the department’s annual day programmes. He was always sought after by his head and colleagues for organisation of any cultural programmes.
On stage, Bosco’s forte is comedy and he enjoys enacting comic roles, although equally comfortable singing songs. His favourite actors on the Konkani stage include Jacint Vaz and M Boyer. For his immense contribution towards the tiatr stage, he was felicitated by the 125th Tiatr Celebration Committee and the Cezar Dramatic Troupe on completion of 38 years of its existence. He also received the Tiatr Academy of Goa’s ‘Lifetime Contribution to Tiatr Awards 2018’ in the non-commercial category, besides being selected for the state government’s Kala Gaurav Award 2017-18.
