Author: Philip Tiju Abraham

Prahalad and Poornima Acharya are a magician couple, who have had a long stint as independent performing magicians. Now, they say they are doing their bit for society by helping children be more confident through magic, shadow play and theatre. In the past, Prahalad Acharya has done Houdini-like tricks that are dangerous and death-defying escape stunts. He claims to be the only magician in India to escape from the Bangalore Central Prison (in just 8 seconds!). He says he has also performed the Houdini escape at the Jog Falls and has made 18-ft high the Golden Chariot of Udupi disappear. He also says he has perfomed the legendary Indian Rope Trick. Magic looks unbelievable but it is nothing but science and some sleight-of-hand by smart ‘magicians’. Prahalad Acharya, who is an exponent of ventriloquism, and a shadow play artiste says, “Magic is rational. There is no mesmerising, no power, no hypnotism. It is all about gadgets, the use of directions and optical illusions.”  Wife Poornima is one of the rare women magicians. She took up magic after marriage, and does independent magic shows that last upto two hours.

When I met Nakul Shenoy, he asked me to think of a person and to write his/her name on a piece of paper. He then took the paper and without looking at it, cut it into tiny bits and returned the bits to me. Then he named the person I had thought of! When I asked him how he did it, he smiled and said, “Magicians don’t tell.”  But Shenoy, who calls himself a ‘mindreader and corporate entertainer’ reminds us that magic is all science.  He has 15 years of professional experience in magic entertainment, teaches magic, and writes for magic magazines. One of three mindreaders in India, he networks with the best in the business, across the world. He is just back in the city after a jam session in Las Vegas with other magic folk such as Max Maven, Jeff Mcbride, Eugene Burger and Bob Cassidy. “It helps to learn some magic for people to remember you by. Master a few tricks and you will find it is a useful icebreaker in get-togethers, a fascinating hobby, and it is lovely when people recognise you as ‘the Magic Kid’. Magic is not for muggles. To learn it, you have to be rational, nifty, and cool to fool an audience,” he says.

Software engineer Tiju Philip, a Christ College product and intern at an IT firm, is a stage magician by hobby. He has been practising illusion and conjuring for 11 years now. As a 12-year-old, he saw a magic show and got a magic book. He did some shows and they were all successful. That got him hooked. Tiju has attended magic school — the Magic Academy. His ‘guru’ is magician Gopinath Muthukad. Now, Tiju has founded and designed a portal for Indian magicians called www.indianmagicians.com. He has also helped launch a portal called www.worldofmagicians.com . Tiju wants to tell the world that there is far more to India than the great Indian rope trick. Tiju, who creates ‘magic software’, says, “Magic today is about science and technology. Magicians from Bangalore are more tech-savvy than their counterparts elsewhere in the country. They have a presence on the net and use a lot of online sources and social media. As a community, Indian magicians go online for resources.” And image counts, so both Nakul and Tiju are on Twitter.