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Came, saw, thrilled
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Magician P.C. Sorcar (Jr.) was at his best yet again as he thrilled Hyderabadis with tricks
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ABRACADABRA The master magician casts his spell Photo: R. Ragu
His is a wonder world, almost surreal but for a little voice in your head that says Prodip Chandra Sorcar is making a fool out of everyone with sleight of hand, misdirection and all that jazz.
As this genius of a trickster bamboozles the audience, smooth talking his way trick after trick in unmistakable Bengali accent, you end up doing the one thing that frees the child within - telling the little voice to shut up.
Back in town with his Indrajal after three years, P.C. Sorcar (junior) was his ebullient self at Hari Hara Kala Bhavan where he wowed kids and grown-ups with a cool repertoire of tricks. Making an impressive entry on the stage with a `Book of Magic' stunt, Sorcar paid customary homage to his father, Sorcar (Sr), before getting into the act.
The response was lukewarm at first, a few claps now and then marking the first half-hour. Swords were plunged into girls who looked none the worse for the mutilation. Doves came out of thin air and so did a humongous volume of water from a jug that refused to empty itself despite being tipped over and `emptied' again and again.
The genial magician also offered to teach his audience a trick or two when he shredded a newspaper strip and glued it together again after muttering mumbo jumbo. The item was repeated in slow motion with two paper strips ("one of which I was hiding in my hand") and just when all the grown-ups and kids believed they could do it did they realise that the magician had pulled of yet another trick.
It was at this point that Sorcar's daughter Maneka, ninth in the line of family magicians, stepped on the stage and presented one of her own creations.
The audience were yet to warm up. Just when you thought the Sorcar show has lost its punch, the master magician made a neat move - the blindfold trick.
Inviting members of the audience to come on to the stage, he had them blindfold him with a roll of dough held fast over the eyes with a handkerchief. The participants in the trick were then asked to write numbers, words and mathematical formulae on a black board.
To everyone's amazement, Sorcar wrote down the figures exactly as they were and even traced the outlines of digits and letters with his fingers. To cap it all, he even sketched a picture of his father on the board.
The tempo went up further when he `blew' himself up with dynamite on the stage only to appear among the audience seconds later.
The claps never quite stopped coming after that. It sure was magic all the way.
K. SACHIDANAND MENON
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