AGOSTINHO TEMUDO - COMEDIAN AGOSTINHO.
Comedian Agostinho whose real name is Agostinho Temudo from Navelim Salcette is a very well known comedian of Konkani stage having entered on to the Konkani Stage from the - Zomnivelo Khell - for the first time somewhere in 1981/82 in the Show dished out by the elegant pair of husband and wife i.e. Albert & Roma,. During this period, though Agostinho was doing his SSC and keeping himself busy with his studies, he completed his studies and after 2 years he was ascended on to the professional Stage.
The early Tiatros in which he acted under the popular directors were “Vonnot”, Tujea Hatant, Volkonk Vissorlom and according to him he acted in all the top directors’ Tiatros except Prince Jacob’s. In fact he only once acted together with Prince Jacob and that was in Kuwait where seeing his comedy role I realized how high he stands. His comedy is more or less like that of Kid Boxer during those days where one could laugh and laugh not in the Mattou where Tiatro was staged but after going home and realizing the statements Kid Boxer stated while performing his comedy role. Kid Boxers statements were so deep one was finding it difficult to get its meaning and interpretation immediately while Kid Boxer was releasing those witty, cynical and philosophical statements. Similarly for Comedian Agostinho’s words one has to think for a longer period to get their real meanings. He studies thoroughly well on all the words coming from his mouth. In fact the witty critical comments he makes from the Stage on the corrupt Goan politicians are worth admiring.
As a matter of interest he is one of the best politically smart Konkani Stage Artistes and very well versed in Goan politics. Once during his visit to Kuwait, when he stayed at my place in Kuwait City, I saw how he was requesting me to get him the local Daily Newspaper and the Goan Daily Herald which was available in the afternoon which I was reading regularly, he was eagerly waiting for me in the evening at 6 PM to get him the oHeraldo and until he saw it and read it he would not be at ease. His craze for reading was the most compared to all the Tiatrists who stayed at my place. In fact overwhelming majority of visiting Goan Tiatrists stayed at my place and since I was involved in organizing our Tiatros and Musical Shows along with Fidelis Fernandes and his late younger brother the renowned Tiatrist Rosary Ferns. In view of this we were dutybound to provide them the visiting Tiatrists either males or females the decent accommodation and food that is both Boarding and Lodging. By providing them the accommodation, boarding and lodging we were not doing any favour on them but fulfilling our obligation.
By nature he is fearless man and recently while he was in UK he made his own video where he called our CM a “Fator” saying thus “You are not a dotor but you are a Fator. Beause of this statement many of the Goa based Goans criticized him indicating their anger over his remark. It looked that somebody may harm him If he comes to Goa. But Comediann Agostinho is Agostinho, is a daring man, he came to Goa and by the time this piece appeared in the public domain he must have already returned to UK. I can cite one more instance of his challenging nature. It was some years back in Kuwait, Comedian Agostinho was invited to participate in one Tiatro organized by one Goan group in kuwait and somehow or the other this group was against me. When Comedian Agoatinho came to Kuwait to participate in their Show, the leader of that group cautioned Comedian Agostinho saying “ in no way you will meet and talk to A.Veronica Fernandes”. As a challenge to this hollow dadagiri, Comedian Agostinho immediately in the next morning after reaching Kuwait rang the Bell of my door to greet me, to hello me without caring for the caution given by his host in Kuwait. Such is the daring character of Comedian Agostiho. But after spending about 3 years in UK and meeting him in Margao a few days back, I found lot of changes in him, his old aggressiveness is very much missing from his self, he is become cool and calm and look more a family oriented man who looks very happy with his entire family namely his wife, 2 sons one of them is an Engineer and the other is Musician, one daughter who is a Doctor, they all stay together in London peacefully. Speaking on his involvement in Tiatro as an artiste, he said he is very happy to be a Tiatrist and added further by saying that if he Is somebody in this world it is only because of his being a Tiatrist.
In his life as a Tiatrist, he staged 27 Non. Stop Tiatros gaining total success in this field while his first production was “SUSEGO” that created a mighty image of his as a script writer and director. As a writer and director, he came in contact with some of the topmost Titrists from whom by watching them from very close angle he acquired some good points and utilized the same to further his career as the leader of his troupe which he formed meantime and started showing his Shows under this group.
Besides the leader of his group, Comedian Agostinho occupied the position of the Presidency of TAG – Tiatr Academy of Goa where he successfully completed his term. About his opinion on the directors who can be called excellent, he pointed out Jose Rod’s name as the best director who will condescend to any ebb to train his artistes participating in his Shows.
It is a hard fact that since he left for UK a few years back there appeared a void on the Konkani Stage and it is very difficult to fill in this void even though some more Comedians are already appeared on the Stage but by the time they grow in maturity it will take time. Meantime I wish Comedian Agostinho all the best.
A.Veronica Fernandes.