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April 10, 2026
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"Quiet flame, bright flame, quiet flame, night cries."
"Do you remember how beautiful it was, Zampanò? Watching the rain from the window that day?"
"Come here. There should be something here to fit you. I want you to look elegant. I don't want to see you in rags. My women have always looked smart."
"Do only what I tell you to."
"[reciting his act by rote before a crowd] Here we have a piece of chain that is a quarter of an inch thick. It is made of crude iron, stronger than steel. With the simple expansion of my pectoral muscles, or chest, that is, I'll break the hook. [collecting money from the crowd] Thank you, thank you. Now, to do this feat, I must fill myself up like a tire. If a blood vessel should break, I would spit blood. For instance, in Milan a man weighing 240 pounds lost his eyesight doing this trick. That is because the optical nerves take a beating, and once you lose your eyes, you are finished. If there's any delicate person in the audience, I would advise him to look away 'cause there could be blood. [with seemingly great effort, he breaks the chain]"
"What a funny face! Are you a woman, really? Or an artichoke?"
"What if I asked you to come with me? I'll teach you to walk the tightrope, way up in the air, with all the lights on you. I have a car. We'd be traveling all the time. We'd have a world of fun. Would you like that? But no. "Nothing." You have to stay with Zampanò and perform his ridiculous stunts and let him beat you like a donkey. Such is life."
"She's not like Rosa. But she's a good girl, poor thing. She'll do what she's told. She just came out a little strange. But, if she eats every day, maybe she'll get better."
"You want to go with Zampanò and take Rosa's place? He'll teach you a trade. You'll earn some money. And one less mouth to feed around here wouldn't be bad."
"Gelsomina, Zampanò's a good man. He'll treat you well. You'll travel the world. You'll sing and dance. And look what he gave me: 10,000 lire! I have it here, 10,000 lire! We can fix the roof and these poor things can eat. Why did your father ever leave us?"
"Widow: For three nights I've been up at 1:00am to cook. Think I'm tired? If I felt like it, I could dance all night long. Us older women are better than young girls."
"This is the picture YOU'VE HEARD about!"
"Already, word has come from the world's film centers - a great picture is coming...unique in its elemental story and setting...rare in the earthy, human magnificence of its portrayals."
"Giulietta Masina - Gelsomina"
"Anthony Quinn - Zampanò"
"Richard Basehart - Il Matto, the fool"
"Aldo Silvani - Il Signor Giraffa, the circus owner"
"Marcella Rovere - La Vedova, the widow"
"Livia Venturini - La Suorina, the nun"
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.