By Shubha H.S.
-- Appeared in the a.m. plus in December 1998

"Magic is the trick with mysterious results, one to entertain" says the Oxford Advance Learners dictionary. Magic is an art. "In India, magic has not flourished because it is not looked as an art for entertaining but only as a means of cheating people," says Mr. Prahlad Acharya. This simple 27-year-old youth is a professional magician and a gold medallist in All India Ventriloquism. Though as a young boy, he started learning magic as a hobby, it has turned into his profession during the last five years having performed all over India and also in Dubai recently.

As a young boy of around 7 years, Prahlad watched senior Sorcar perform a magic show in Udupi. The magic of magic hooked on to this boy ever since. Greatly inspired by him, Prahlad went on to achieve and perform more wonderful feats. He sincerely considers him to be his mentor.

'I trained under Uday Jadugar for 6 months," says Prahlad about his training. It was during this time, under the able guidance of Uday Jadugar that, Prahlad also learnt Ventriloquism and shadow play. Ventriloquism is the art of producing voice sounds so that they seem to come from a person at a distance from the speaker. In simple terms, it is speaking without moving the lips. Shadow play is creating different shadow images on a screen using fingers. "Ventriloquism and shadow play are arts and not magic," he emphasises. Though in India, both these arts are considered a part of magic.

To prove magic as an art, Prahlad drove blindfolded from Mangalore to Goa on a two-wheeler in Jan '95. He covered the distance in two days as at every halt he and his team had to perform a few magical tricks. The act was held in aid of 'AIDS awareness' and was well received by the media and also by the public.

About the famous 'Indian Rope trick', Prahlad confirms that no magician has till date claimed to perform the original 'Indian Rope trick', though many other versions of the same have been performed many times by many magicians himself being one of them.

Prahlad is credited for pioneering fire escape tricks in India. Escapes by magicians, usually called 'Houdini escape' are hair-raising experiences for the audience as well as the performer. In the act, the magician is tied up using ropes and chains. Then they are either locked in boxes or tied in bags and thrown into water or fire. Within seconds, the magician escapes and comes out alive. These tricks are usually held outdoors. Prahlad has performed the 'underwater escape' 4 times and the 'fire escape' trick 5 times, following which many other magicians have tried to perform it. While performing one such trick at the International convention of magic in May '95, Prahlad had a major accident where he was almost fully burnt. When asked about the experience he casually says, "Its thrilling" and leaves it at that.

Prahlad has also performed the 'Chinese water torture' escape twice. Explaining the act, he says that the magician is tied in a polythene bag and left in an aquarium. A 50-kilogram sword is left hanging above him, which would drop at the 60th second. The water in the aquarium is connected to electricity, which cannot be touched. The magician has to escape within 59 seconds, which requires a tremendous amount of courage. "The magician should not be nervous and never be scared," says Prahlad. He also notes that self-hypnotism is sometimes used to overcome fear among the magicians.

Hypnosis, a state in which a person appears to be fully conscious but can be influenced to perform certain actions or certain things is usually linked to magic. Prahlad insists that "magic is purely technical. Though the hand movements of a magician during an act leads the audience to believe that he hypnotises." He also emphasises that though certain acts in magic are called 'black art', they are in no way related to black magic or witchcraft, as it is believed to be among the rural areas.

To create awareness among the people against such misconceptions about magic, Prahlad and his magician friend Nakul Shenoy have founded a magic institute called 'MAADRI' in Udupi. 'MAADRI' means Magic & Allied Arts Development & Research Institute.

"At MAADRI we wish to develop, promote and popularise the art of magic," says Prahlad. Magic is limited to a few ideas, which are repeated with different items. To generate interest among children, "we held short term summer courses last year. This year we plan to conduct 3-day courses for children and teach simple tricks. If the child is interested, they can continue to advanced course," he says.

The institute also plans to take magic into every house by performing little tricks in every household. The motto of 'Maadri' is awareness through magic says Prahlad. They also wish to make magic mobile by performing in interior villages in mobile vans.

"Due to the availability of magic kits, books and cassettes, magic has developed faster in India unlike before. Since there is greater exposure to magic on the Internet and E-mail like in western countries, people are aware that it is an art" concludes Prahlad enthusiastically as his desire to create magical awareness is slowly succeeding.

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