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It's magic... pure and simple
ABRACADABRA... GILI gili chhoo! Gopinath Muthukad! Who are you?
His "everyday regular monotonous" job comprises catching bullets in his mouth, having spears driven through his body, freeing himself from a zillion chains, a zillion times, defying the laws of the elements, vanishing cars, elephants, manifesting aeroplanes out of thin air, and being lowered head down, completely chained and padlocked into a blazing haystack, right before one's eyes! Now, how's that for an introduction?
Well, there are magicians, and there are magicians with a mission, and Gopinath Muthukad falls in the latter category. This mystical entertainer blends science with art to form magic, and magic with patriotism to form his life and his shows. In New Delhi to gain the blessings of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for his new venture "Gandhi Mantra", Gopinath plans to traverse the world with Gandhiji's eight ideals: truth, peace, non-violence, self-purification, communal harmony, abstinence from alcohol, education of women and children, and realisation of self-reliant villages, starting at the foot of the Gandhi statue at Tavistok Square in London on October 2,2003 and culminating in South Africa on January 30, 2005.
Inspired by the magical tales narrated by his father, of the legendary magician Vazhakkuneim Nambudary of Kerala - who later became his Guru, along with P.C. Sarkar Jr., and David Copperfield, at the age of 10, Gopinath knew that his life was going to be magical. And for the past three decades, magical it has been, but not devoid of a noble purpose, that of patriotism, by a man who has uniquely spearheaded the mission of national integration through magic.
His passion for thematic shows began in 1990, with "Aksharajaalan" or magical letters, in Kerala, and ever since then it's been Sneha Sandesha Manthrika Yathra, Illusion for Pollution and several others along with his major all-India tour "Vismaya Bharat Yathra," which began on August 15, 2002 in Kanyakumari, cruised through 22 states in the south, east, far north-east, central, north, and west India, culminating in Delhi on October 5, 2002.
Relating the experiences of the yatra he says, "When I finished my show - Illusion India - in Nagaland with the National Anthem, none of the audience stood up. They had heard it for the first time, and had no clue that this song is their National Anthem. In Meghalaya, I was threatened not to show the national flag by a bunch of people. I hoisted 24 flags in the next show. Throughout, it was a wonderful experience, I even went to Jammu, but my dream is to go to Kashmir and perform for the soldiers."
This Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee and founder of "The Academy of Magical Sciences" which is the first of its kind in Asia, certainly is a modern-day crusader for Indian unity during these troubled times, but as he himself passionately says, "I love my country, I love India, I can do anything for India."
Well, Gopinath Muthukad certainly practices what he preaches.
SHRUTI CHAKRABORTY
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