“The history of world magic is shorter than the history of Indian magic,” exclaims Prodip Chandra Sorcar popularly known as PC Sorcar (Jr) as we settle for a lively chat before the release of “The Maharaja of Magic” (Niyogi), his tribute to his legendary father, PC Sorcar (Protul Chandra Sorcar), who put Indian magic on the world stage in the 20th Century.
But today, Sorcar admits, magic is going out of our lives. “We are becoming eye-oriented, not realising that magic is prudence. Indian magic is an exposition or presentation of prudence by the wise men of orient.” He underlines that magic is part of the Natya Shastra, “The unpresentable portions of stories like decapitation and sudden disappearance were presented through magic. There are 64 kalas and Indrajal happens to be the 20th one.”
Cultural heritage
Unfortunately, after independence, practitioners of magic didn’t get the same respect as other performing artists. “The people who are in deciding positions have no understanding of magic,” rues Sorcar. “With the Britishers gone, they erased the era. When any tourist comes to India, he doesn’t come to see the skyscrapers or bridges or call centres for that matter. They still want to see elephants walking the street or the rope trick. Instead of being proud of the cultural heritage or presenting the scientific side of it, we are busy erasing the arts,” says the 71-year-old magician who still performs to houseful shows with his daughter, Maneka Sorcar. “There is no decline in the popular appeal though, particularly that of Sorcars. There are at least 17 P.C. Sorcars in the country...all imitations of the original. One of them died only recently,” he grins.
Magic, Sorcar says, is a combination of arts, science and applied psychology in equal measure. “It is not magic; it is magical. I play the role of a magician,” he explains.
Someone who took the lid off the tricks of many godmen, Sorcar feels magic could help fight superstition. “Hinduism doesn’t narrates stories, it narrates philosophy. And to establish the philosophy, many people use tricks but a trick cannot promote a philosophy. In fact, it demeans the whole thing. Shakespeare said the world is a stage but the Hindu philosophy says that entire universe is an illusion and the only truth is the creator himself. My objective is let people perceive the essence of Hindu philosophy but not merely through some tricks.”
Talking about magic in the family, the craft, he argues, cannot be passed down as it is not a property. “It has to be taken and the secret mantras and chemical secrets have to be safeguarded.” Like in one of the books, he cites, it is written take a certain proportion of chuna (lime) and nausadar (ammonium chloride), rub your hands, count 108 times and you will get a superpower. The truth is if you rub them together, a diluted version of chloroform is formed, which could be misused. There are secret mantras which you will not be able to decode unless you know their true meaning. These are like shlokas which are shared only when the guru is sure that the disciple will use them in a proper way.”
The patriotic charm
Maneka says the biggest contribution of her grandfather and father is that they have brought Indrajal vidya to the common man. “Like sargams, he has classified magic into 13 rasas.” Reflecting on PC Sorcar’s contribution, Sorcar (Jr) says he made magic a popular art in India when a lot of stigma was attached to it because of ignorance. His grandfather was ostracised from the society and his father was made to eat a peace of cow dung for following his passion. It is another matter that he used his legendary sleight of hand to outwit his tormentors.
Spurred by Subhas Chandra Bose, Sorcar says his father went to Japan when every artist was eager to go to London. And his nationalist ideals reflected in his performance when he created acts like Water of India that espoused national integration. “It was a magical demonstration of the scientific idea of infinity.” Similarly, his great escape from boxes, trunks and iron cages was his way to instilling hope in freedom fighters.
“It is believed that it was his dressing style that inspired his good friend SK Kooka when he was commissioning the mascot of Air India.” After initially working with Anglo-Indian assistants, he also brought family women on stage to participate in his magical feats. “It was the idea of my mother, Basanti, who wanted to see him as the best magician in the world.”
No wonder, Sorcar (Jr) has anointed Maneka as his successor. When on stage, Maneka has to tackle two kinds of gazes, one that comes to see her magic and the other which comes to see her gender. “I was born gender blind but the more I got to know society and social mores, the more I realised that there are certain rules which are hard to bend. A magician is a powerful and an all encompassing figure on stage, a person for whom everything is possible. And it is hard for men to accept a woman in that role. Even in Western culture which are said to be more liberal, all the heroic figures have been men. It is only recently that we have got Wonder Woman. Women who have such immense power are given negative connotation. Even in literature, they have been called witches. Having said that, the acceptance level is much better. The battle has been won but the war still continues.”
Diminishing mystique?
But in this know-all generation, it seems the mystique that we associate with Indian magic is gone. Sorcar disagrees and quickly picks a pen lying on the table, holds it between his palms, rubs them vigorously, and a few moments later the pen sticks to one palm against gravity! “Frankly, this is a children’s magic show level trick yet the mystery remains. It is not about the pen, it is about the poetry you create. I never go to watch the so-called mentalists. They come to follow me,” says Sorcar, who loves to study his spectators. “The elderly usually come with a disgusted face to accompany their kids. However, as the show progresses, they themselves turn into kids. The art is to bring out that child as nobody wants to be old.” Maneka maintains that with people returning to live shows, magic is only going to be more popular. However, the duo doesn’t like the idea of seeing everything from the prism of logic. “Magic being exposed,” says Maneka, “is like telling a child that there is no Santa Claus. It is a cruel thing to do. At the same time, it will not prevent the child from expecting a gift during Christmas. And then he will pass it on to his own children.” “We believe in fairy tales; otherwise there will be no better tomorrow,” sums up Sorcar (Jr).
