Magic shows have evolved with time, says magician

Karam Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, August 30

Despite dominance of electronic media in the entertainment industry, art of magic in India has survived the time, believes magician OP Sharma Jr (Satya Prakash Sharma).

Kanpur-based OP Sharma Jr., son of famous magician OP Sharma, will perform in the city from tomorrow. This is his second tour to the city. He had earlier visited Patiala in 2005.

“To keep up with time, magic shows have also evolved,” said Sharma. 

“Earlier, magic shows in India were restricted to street players, called madaaris, who would perform hand-tricks. But with time, use of science has helped magic evolve itself and survive in India,” he said. 

Famous for holding audience spellbound with his stellar performances and ‘Haath-Ki-Safai’, OP Sharma said: “These days youngsters do watch most of the entertainment stuff on the web, but magic is something which can be best enjoyed live.”

Talking about his father, he said: “My father contributed a lot to the magic industry in his own way. We have together done 37,878 shows in India and abroad.”

Following his family tradition, Sharma says he had performed his first magic stunt at the tender age of three at a magic show staged by his magician father. Since then, he had been growing as a magician by learning new tricks of the trade.

Sharma, who holds a degree in mechanical engineering, says magic is not just an art as people think. It, in fact, involves science. 

He said his entire family had done engineering. 

“Magic is all illusion which is created in the mind of the audience. However, most of our tricks are based on scientific phenomena. With the help of science, performing magic becomes interesting,” he said.

Sharma has performed several tricks in the past, but his most popular tricks are bringing a dinosaur on to the stage and making the Statue of Liberty disappear. 

On asking if he believed in magic, he said: “Well, like I said, it’s an illusion, but to create an illusion, so as to make it a reality, one has to put in a lot of efforts.”