The Hindu Business Line : It's pure magic

A white, five-storeyed house on a narrow south Kolkata lane near the Ballygunge railway station is where one of the world's "greatest" magicians lives. There is nothing magical about the rather chaotic neighbourhood, an old, respectable locality of this eastern metropolis with its attendant din — a far cry from the posh areas where the city's rich and the famous live. As you enter the Basanti Magic Palace, you are overcome with a sense of reverence as a smiling portrait of P.C. Sorcar Senior greets you on your way up to meet his son P.C. Sorcar Junior (P C stands for Prodip Chandra). The portrait is the presiding deity of this household of magicians.

"In our family, we — my brothers Prafulla and Provash, my wife and my three daughters — are all magicians. Only we have different facets as engineer, animation artist and actor. Magic is our birthright and the cat in our house is also a magician," says Sorcar Jr.

He says magicians are born, not made. "There is magic in everything. When a tabla player performs very well and enthrals the audience, you say there is magic in his hands. Magic is a state of attainment. It is the last word of any art. So nature minus art is magic."

He adds: "To be frank, we are not magicians; we only perform the role of a magician. Had we been magicians, we wouldn't have struggled to earn our living. We would have asked for delicious dishes and got them on our table in a jiffy." Sorcar Jr has set up the `Illusion or Reality — Magic Research Society'. He is busy popularising it and there are already 16,000 members. "What is magic today would be science tomorrow," he says.

"Let's travel back in time to the day when man did not understand nature and was afraid of dinosaurs. Only later did he learn that by using fire he could drive them away. He threw a blue stone at an animal and it ran away in fear. He thought it was the colour of the stone that worked wonders, but in reality it could have been the sight of another powerful animal that scared it. Thus pseudo-science developed and continued for long," explains Sorcar.

Giving an interesting take on alchemy, he says,"Chemistry is a term derived from the word `chem'. In Egypt there was a place called Chem, which was a land of black soil by the Nile. When the Greeks attacked Chem, they wanted to kill the priests who were the king's advisors. These priests then escaped to the Arab countries and used their knowledge there. It is believed that they added the word `Al' and the word alchemy was coined. Thus it is a long journey of yesterday's magic transforming into today's science."

The Midas touch

Sorcars, it is said, are eight generations of magicians who have made magic synonymous with their surname. But it was P.C. Sorcar Senior who popularised the family art of "magic" beyond the boundaries of India. He enhanced the presentations to a theatrical form of international standard, while keeping the Indian traditions as the central motif. He gave a new lease of life to the dying art and thus is recognised as "The Father of Indian Magic". The son took it further by using modern techniques, surrealistic sequences, third-dimensional choreography, and both traditional and modern music, thus making it a futuristic mystery-spectacular-entertainment show for the intellectuals.

Sorcar calls his show `Indrajal', a theatrical representation or realisation of the wishful dreams of living happily, where nothing seems to be impossible. A dynamic drama unfolds before the audience with its own plot, progression and climax. But it is the presentation of the illusions that is the most important part of his shows. His magic has developed through a lifetime of exposure to magic and performance traditions. He has followed and studied street magicians, snake charmers and yogis in his quest for understanding the `unknown' world. Traditional items also find a place in his shows, but are presented in a more convincing manner.

A family affair!

Sorcar Jr's wife, Jayashree, lends support to his shows as his costume designer, choreographer and is also part of the magic troupe. Of the three daughters — Maneka, Moubani and Mumtaz — Maneka has inherited the family mantle. While Moubani is into films as an actor, Mumtaz is still a student. His daughters accompany him on his tours whenever possible. "My daughters make my art alive," he says. "What you saw in Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai on Zee TV was a father who got so emotional that he cried and had to be comforted by his wife," he adds. With Maneka deciding to continue the family tradition, comparisons are inevitable. Ask her and she says, "I have already coped with the fact that I am a woman magician. I had to do more dare-devil shows to prove myself. And a Sorcar tag to your name is like a double-edged sword. You are constantly compared. So I know I must have my own style though we all stick to the Sorcar style of presentation, in which the gap between the audience and the artist is bridged. When I perform with my father on the same stage, it is a huge challenge for me. We don't give each other an inch and it is a jugalbandi." However, these experiences have helped Maneka gain knowledge about handling crisis situations during stage performances. "What I have learnt from him is the quality and the tremendous sense of crisis management. There are so many technical problems that often crop up in a show and have to be managed on stage," says Maneka, all set to carry the magical legacy forward.

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