Who knows what the thoughts of María Elena Velasco Fraggosi would have been when registering her success on television and in the cinema in the 70s of the 20th century. With the brilliant nickname of “La India María”, the singer-songwriter and dancer was one of her most famous characters, although her dream would have been to appear on the marquees of theaters and nightclubs in the country.
María Elena was born in Puebla, Zaragoza, on December 17, 1940. She did not have great artistic gifts or physical qualities, but she did have courage, like the women of her roots, peasant women who harvest against all odds. She began her career as a dancer at the Blanquita theater in the Federla District and in those rhythms she also walked as a supporting actress in the cinema where, for the first time, she played an indigenous woman in the film “El bastardo” (1968) thanks to the director’s advice. Spanish Miguel Morayta. Since then it can be said that Mexico lost a mediocre star in exchange for one of the worst comedians in its history.
At just over twenty years of age, María shed her bikini and any hint of sensuality, including her second last name, to become María Nicolasa Cruz. She is a native of an unlikely place called “San José de los Burros”, she is a brave Mazahua indigenous woman who arrived in the city of smog, haste and discrimination. It’s India Maria, her humor is nondescript and silly, but her ingenuity to confront those who undermine her amused the audience at the movies and “Always on Sunday,” the most renowned television program of the time where it was presented from 1970. That basic humor exposed in old Castilian was part of the gossip of the time as well as the routines that she and the host of the program, Raúl Velasco, deployed in the manner of a rude parody between conquerors and conquered. At the height of simplicity, “La India María” tried to seduce the güerito with the arts of flirtatious gesticulation and hip movements. The reiteration of those jokes was successful. Since then, the character was a commercial icon: he made more than twenty films, among the highest grossing are “Silly, but not so much” (1972), “Poor but honest” (1973), “Fear does not walk on a donkey” (1976) and “He who does not run flies” (1982).
The simple comedy of María Nicolasa Cruz was decisive, just like her poverty and the fact that she suffered discrimination because such conditions forge sympathizers and even more, thanks to the ingenuity and ingenuity with which she faces adversity. For this reason, she was also a kind of heroine who, between selling fruit or doing housework, fought against racism, machismo and corruption, being honest, loyal and hardworking. Without a doubt, India María is a symbol of television and her ability to turn any noble food into a frying pan.
María Elena Velasco Fragossi died on May 1, 2015, at the age of 74, a victim of cancer. She enjoyed the honey of fame that came to her through unlikely twists and turns but she could never be the dancer, singer and actress that she wanted to be. Others could, even if they lacked talent, the physique helped them. In contrast, the public placed Maria’s body and features on the shelf of a humorous Indian.
