Revival of the lost magic

Remember those childhood days when a man wearing black coat and a big hat used to fascinate us with his magic tricks? With just a sleight of hand, he turned a white handkerchief into a beautiful white pigeon! Many other wondering things came out of the jadoo ka pitara which he used to carry. From birthday parties, to school functions and weddings, the magicians and their magic shows were crowd-pullers.

Today, it might seem that the high-on-drama movies or the appealing high-profile events have taken away the edge from the then superstars. But, the 59-year-old veteran magician Samraj, who won the Merlin Award and is considered as the Oscar of magic, believes that the craft is becoming more popular day-by-day and nothing can affect the charm that magicians can create.

“In olden days, the magic performance was confined to king’s palaces, streets and parties.  But today it has changed to an art form which can enthral as many as 25,000 people at a time. People have understood that behind magic there is nothing but a combination of science, speed, diverting attention and hypnotism. Earlier the distance between the people and the magic was more, but today it is not the case,” the Kerala-based artiste who has been performing since 30 years and has represented
India in many other countries, tells Metrolife.

While attending any magic show in today’s time, we might not feel nostalgic because those are now replaced by their ‘upgraded version’ in terms of genres. Our good old “jadugars” are now renamed as ‘illusionists,’ ‘mentalists’ and ‘hypnotists’, depending on the field of their expertise. These genres, apart from normal magical tricks deals with the audiences’ mind, which make it engaging even for adults.

29-year-old Tejas is no stranger to this ‘magical world.’ From a tender age of eight, he was inclined towards this field. He believes that the “evolution of this art form and the performers” have helped magic to gain momentum and engage even the not-so-young.

He says, “In the past, magic was considered as entertainment for kids. But with the progress in this art form, magic now serves even the adults. The different genres of magic dealing with your mind like mentalism and hypnotics have made it entertaining for the adults as well. However, the principle of magic remains the same but the evolution has made it popular among different age group and walks of life.”

Unlike other performing art forms, there aren’t enough schools or institutions that teach magic. Hence, inclination of people towards this lost craft has seen a major dip. However, 24-year-old Karan Singh, who is a mentalist, has n’t lost hope.

 “As we do not have too many magic schools to teach magic, there might not be too many magicians in the country. But those who are there, cannot be overshadowed by any other form of entertainers,” says the Delhi-based artiste admitting that his journey was tough. Elaborating about the unavoidable struggles of magicians, Singh mentions, “ I started performing at birthday parties and now I do  shows at least thrice a week. It does take time to excel but once you are there no one can take away your talent.”