Reign of the Comedy Queen

Hailing from the picturesque village of Majorda in Salcete taluka, Querobina Costa Carvalho enjoyed watching ‘zomnivhele khell’ staged during the Carnival festivities as a child. Her father, late Andrew Carvalho, would be a part of those folk plays and was noted for tragedy roles.

“My father had seven brothers and they were popularly known as Carvalho Brothers,” informs Querobina, adding, “They would come together and entertain the village audience with ‘zomnivhele khell’ and I would enjoy watching my father play those challenging roles with a passion.”

During her primary education in St Aloysius High School, Majorda, at the tender age of 8, Querobina had the golden opportunity of rendering a song for the school’s annual day. As her uncle, Agnelo Carvalho, had studied in the same institution, he knew the history of the school. “So he composed a special song and it was appreciated by Cyril Mascarenhas, a villager and officer at Goa Shipyard Ltd, with burning of crackers,” she reveals.

Querobina’s father was equally excited at his daughter’s rendition and had said: “Baien paik nanv haddlem” (The daughter has brought fame to the father). She has also rendered duets in village shows with her uncle, Agnelo, which he would compose during that period for village feasts in Majorda, Madel, Raia, Navelim, Ambajim and other places. When Jose Mario Pereira from Majorda was presenting his musical play on All India radio (AIR), he welcomed this artiste in his troupe and noted tiatrists like A M Pacheco and Peter da Costa, who were part of the troupe, took note of the singing and acting skills of this artiste.

Thereafter, A M Pacheco welcomed Querobina in his dramatic troupe and she performed in his non-stop dramas like ‘Mr Romeo’ and ‘Odruxtt’, followed by tiatr ‘Fator’ in the next season. When A M Pacheco’s brother Benny, staged his tiatr ‘Vis Vorsam Adim’, she was again part of the troupe. Then Patrick Dourado introduced her in his tiatrs ‘Sot’, ‘Patok’, ‘Tem Mhojem Soirem’, ‘Maim’, ‘Dev Borem Korum’ and others.

While serving for almost 12 years in Dourado’s dramatic troupe, Querobina performed in serious roles, mostly as a mother. When the same director penned tiatr ‘Ostori’, she was asked to switch over to the role of comedienne. When the same tiatr was staged in Mumbai, contractors Albert and Seby crowned her as ‘Comedy Queen’ of the Konkani stage.

Querobina was also part of several of C D’Silva’s tiatrs, besides enacting in tiatr ‘Mog’ jointly directed by Patrick Dourado and C D’Silva. After performances in Dourado’s tiatrs, Padmashree M Boyer roped her in for his tiatr ‘Mog, Kazar, Divorce’. In this tiatr, the comedy presented by M Boyer and Querobina was an instant hit, in Goa and in Mumbai.

Querobina’s excellence in comedy scaled to greater heights when she joined Prince Jacob’s productions and was part of the troupe in tiatrs ‘Ponvoth’, ‘Panvdde’, ‘PoixePoixe’, ‘Poltodd’ and several others. She rendered her services to the director for almost 5 years and later joined Jose Rod’s troupe in tiatrs ‘Paus Paus’, ‘Nisonn’ and others, with service lasting for 3 years.

Querobina was next seen in Mario de Vasco’s tiatr ‘Dhump’, followed by tiatr ‘Familik Ollkhona’. Besides service to Goan tiatr directors, she acted for Mumbai directors, beginning with Bab Peter in tiatrs ‘Mijeas’, ‘Tuka Kiteak Poddlam’, etc and then C Alvares, Robin Vaz, Wilmix/Sharon and others.   

The uniqueness of this comedienne is that she would maintain a diary titled ‘Treasury of My Dramas’, wherein she would note the name of the tiatr, place staged, date and the amount received as reward. “It would help keep track of the tiatr performances and the amount paid by various directors,” she explains.

Before leaving for Kuwait in 1995, Querobina was last seen in Mario de Vasco’s tiatr. After living overseas for almost a year, she was seen in tiatrs staged by Rosary Fernandes, Laurente Pereira, Mario de Majorda, Simon Gonsalves, Salu Faleiro, comedian Philip Pereira and others settled abroad. After a long gap of 14 years, Laurente Pereira brought Querobina back on stage in Goa in his tiatr ‘Hea Ghorachim Daram Bond’.

And now, after another gap of nine years, Querobina is back on the Konkani stage in Braz de Parra’s tiatr ‘Ami Khuxal’. Although she has never received any awards, this versatile artiste was felicitated once in Bharain, and thrice in Kuwait and lately by Braz de Parra in his tiatr ‘Ami Khuxal’.