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The Wonder Men

The Wonder Men

Magic in India is far from a dying art, defended as it is by a nationwide 'brotherhood of magicians', discovers Arshad Said Khan.

The world hasn't yet lost its kohl-eyed gentlemen in feathered turbans. Women in handkerchief sleeves upholding nails on fire are also present. So are the complete sets of satin flags, flapping pigeons and glitter-laden wands.

Everyone has memories of magic shows they saw as kids. Of the professional magicians would perform at local fairs and occasionally at rented cinema halls. These curious conjurers still exist in a healthy number. Two hundred of them gathered at the recently concluded Jadu Utsav, The India International Magic Convention organized at New Delhi by The Indian Brotherhood of Magicians.



The two-day fest was organized to mark the silver jubilee of the national group and to raise awareness about magic as a fine art. Ashok Kharbanda, the veteran magician created the brotherhood in 1982 to bring together the largely unorganised Indian magician community. Twenty-five years hence, the group has seen small but significant developments in the field. The celebrations integrated competitions for amateurs and lectures and gala shows by Indian and foreign delegates.

On day one, only the first four rows of Bapu Samaj Seva Auditorium at Punchkuian Road, were filled. The audience comprised mostly of middle-aged men, a few women and nicely turned out children who looked stupefied, as the show should have started half an hour ago. 'Why are they still giving a lecture?' some of the lightly powdered and perfumed faces seemed to ask.

The towering mist-sprouting fans kept increasing the humidity levels as a glowing Hugus Protat, a delegate from France explained the different techniques of levitation with the use of sufficiently expensive machinery. Though assisted by fellow magician Raphael Navarro's English translation, he still seemed unintelligible to most. Protat's blazing eyes told tales of betrayal. Local wiz Rahul Kharbanda came to the rescue and summarised it all in Hindi, waking up the audience, and prodding them to ask relevant questions. The amateur magicians contest, however, drew a bigger and more enthusiastic crowd.

One must not, perhaps, write off such workshops, revealing as they did the many tricks of the trade, from the physical to the trigonometrical. For instance, did you know that the levitation trick, which originated in ancient India, today requires an electric-powered harness to lift a heavy person?

One of the main reasons behind such revelations and open discussions was to clear misconceptions about simulated magic. In the words of Madan Bharti, a 'magic writer' and PR person exclusively for magicians, Magic is considered an 'uppekhchit kala' or 'degraded art'. The reason may be a lack of chic. As the popular belief goes, to be chic you need money and poor magicians like Samrat Ranjan, are "hand to mouth most of the time." Or it could be its association with the low camp of the dying Indian circus. High camp, of course, would be a Russian artist performing the same tricks. Moreover, with the ever-rising interest in consumerist amusements like gaming and mall hopping, magicians are being increasingly pushed into the subaltern realm.

Most experts agree that if Magic is given the status of a fine art, it will gain more admiration. In fact, the main aim of the collective is to get an official declaration from the government on those lines, besides an academy where Magic can be taught professionally. "Something like the Lalit Kala Akademy", says Ashok Kharbanda. "The magician is not considered an artist. One of our main aims is to save this dying art form," he adds.

French delegate Raphael Navarro chips in, "Even in Europe, people are only starting to respect the magician as an artist. It is mostly thought to be something commercial." Navarro is the director of the magic department at the National Centre for Circus Arts in Paris. He has worked commercially with fashion designers like Jean Paul Gaultier but thinks that for an artist such work is less satisfying. He uses Bollywood as a metaphor. "There are many movies in Bollywood that are commercial and fun to watch but the real expression is found in only a few, where the artist says what he really wants to say. It's the same with magic. Good art is not created with money in mind."

Small town traveling performers like Samrat Ranjan don't have time for artistic pretensions; and money is only the biggest of the many problems they have to get around. "We have to constantly bribe the local officials for clearance and permissions and licenses. There is the traffic police in case there is a problem, the fire brigade for potential accidents, the collector, the SDM, the list goes on," he laments. Other forces to reckon with include 'charity cheaters', advertising, expensive venues and heavy entertainment tax that varies from state to state. In Haryana the tax is 100%, no less.

Ranjan's more famous counterpart KC Pandey, the man who made the Qutub Minar disappear on TV, says he does not have any such problems. The Limca Book of Records holder notes that the "right approach" makes all the difference; only ignorant magicians would waste their time writing letters to the President and the Prime Minister. "In 1996 I got entertainment tax exempted for Magic in Delhi through Madanlal Khurana who passed my application onto the CM and the finance minister. You have to go through the right channels. The government wants to help."

At large though, the stage sorcerers do not seem to be disheartened at all. At Jadu Utsav they showed a positive outlook towards the future. As Madan Bharti explains, there is cause for jubilation. "In the last fifty years there has been a 100% growth in the number of magicians. The late PC Sorcar of Kolkata brought fame to this art around independence and today fourteen trucks of equipment travel with a magician, instead of yesteryears' four."

Rahul Kharbanda who gave up lucrative job opportunities abroad after an MBA to follow in his father's footsteps, says that Magic's future lies in corporate events. "The corporate world is starting to recognise the value of magic. They are hiring magicians to help launch a product or change a logo as the sudden transformations can be very dramatic and fascinating." This global trend is fast picking up in the Indian business sector. For the rest of us who get nostalgic about childhood visions of rabbits in hats and coins pulled out of ears, there is hope. This nationwide brotherhood of magicians is trying to make sure not all wonder gets lost.