He is just 24 years old, an age when most are trying to figure what to do in life. This does not hold true for Neel Madhav, one of India’s leading magicians, who has not just won applause of old and young alike but also made a difference in the way magic is perceived in the country.
From turning leaves into butterfly, sand into gold, doing amazing card tricks, predicting headlines to making pulses appear from his hands to levitate, Neel just mesmerises audience. “I was attracted to magic because of its innate and tremendous power to change one’s mental make-up and mood,” he observes. Hard to believe, isn’t it? “No, this is true and I know that for a fact. When in the US, Jason Randall performed for me for two hours, I, who was really pissed off and angry, completely changed. The sullenness was replaced by liveliness and curiosity to know how he did those acts. Now this is what exactly happens when I perform. The audience with a complete change of spirit approach me and exclaim ‘Hey, dude, how did you do it?’.”
Yet for Neel that is not all. “For me, through my performances I am giving people something to believe in, that something extra in which they can have faith in. It cannot be perceived by mind or touched and is beyond the five senses — the faculties of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch,” he observes. “This is essential, as this belief in something larger than life gives us hope and courage to do better.”
By making magic a part of one’s life, Neel intends to reinstate the prime place it once occupied. “Magic is an ancient art, which finds mention in stories, legends and mythologies, was placed at an exalted position. Held in high esteem, magicians counselled kings and maharajas on matters of State and politics. With passage of time, the art and its practitioners, moving from courts became a means of entertainment. Twenty years back it became confined to birthday parties, where a person wearing a long coat or sherwani performed the same stale tricks over the years. It bored people to death who eventually berated magic and magicians.”
Determined to change the scenario, Neel wants magic on a pedestal of popularity occupied by comedy five years ago, dance 10 years and music 15 years back. “I am making a conscious effort to change audience perception about magic being stale and repetitive through my acts. Likewise by influencing magicians to raise their performance level and demanding better remuneration for their shows, I want magic to thrive.”
Engaging audience
While on the subject of keeping audience engaged to magical acts, Neel feels this is possible only through continuous innovation and creativity. Giving his example, he explains, “I use different facets of magic like mentalism, illusion, hypnosis and sleight of hand to awe people. Mentalism helps me to know what is going on in the mind through body language. On the other hand, criminal psychology and neuro linguistic programming allow reading of emotions and deducing how an individual will behave or act in given situations and his/her thought process. I used all these aspects to give viewers a real feeling.”
A self-taught artist, Neel, learnt everything about magic the hard way. “I have read 60 books on the subject and watched numerous videos on YouTube, tried and failed many times to persistently practice till I mastered the trick. It took me four months to finish the book Jason gave me and three years to move from zero to 20 per cent in terms of skill.”
Having gone through the hard grind, Neel has made it easier for others by penning what he calls “India’s first legit magic book”. Titled “You Got Magic” (Penguin Random House), he will be promoting the book at the upcoming Mountain Echoes Literary Festival at Thimpu from August 25 to 27. Demystifying the sleight of hand, “You Got Magic” traces Neel’s journey with magic while teaching several tricks to the reader.
Tracing the origin of the book, Neel reveals that numerous queries from fans on Facebook egged him to write. “In order to make it interesting, I have included stories from my boarding school days besides how to perform several tricks.” Waiting for a second he quips: “In fact, it has more tricks than stories in order to make people fall in love with magic and me.”
