I slump into a chair in the empty auditorium with nothing but a droning AC at the far end for company. Suddenly, an elderly man appears before me. How did he get in? I didn’t hear him approaching. Did I fall asleep? Or maybe he took the rear entrance? Perhaps he appeared out of thin air? With magician P.C. Sorcar, anything is possible. The senior magician, with over 40 years of experience in entertaining people, sets out to tell me his story:
“A mela was on on either sides of the canal in that small town in East Bengal. There was food, games, and so on. My father went there every day. He must have been in IV or V standard. He was particularly attracted to a small group of Marwaris who sat on the ground performing magic tricks. Father keenly observed them, and tried out the tricks back home. He showed them what he could do the next day. At first they brushed him off saying ‘No, no, you got it all wrong’. But when they realised that he wouldn’t give up, they taught him the tricks themselves.
“This is how father learned magic. He read a lot, practised hard…he trained himself to be a magician at a time when he had no one to look up to. This is perhaps why magicians across the world approached him for advice on magic. He took me along when he went from one city to another to perform magic.
“In the beginning, I thought magic was real. But I understood that it was tricks all along when I poked my nose into it. This realisation made me morose for days… Magic runs in our family. It is said that we had magicians across eight generations. Athmaram, my ancestor, performed in the court of Emperor Jahangir — he mentions this in his autobiography.
“The most important quality for a magician is intuition. He must keep his five senses open at all times. He must be able to foresee the outcome of an event. Despite practice, there are times when there are mix-ups on stage. Once, a stage assistant was not in a good mood and there was some confusion; but I didn’t let the audience see it.
“Now my son has taken to magic. He gives new touches to our shows but we maintain the tricks our family is traditionally known for. I perform only 10 per cent of the show these days; my son takes care of the rest; I’m more of an internal manager. Over the years, the audience’s reaction to magic has changed. When we started out, they would stare at us in awe. Now, they cheer us loudly. And the Internet has only helped us with more publicity; people come to watch our performances live after seeing them online. We still draw a full-house.
“In all the shows that I’ve performed, there’s one that I will never forget. It was my first stage show. Father was not alive to see it. I was 25 years old then and was performing at Mahajati Sadan in Kolkata. I was extremely nervous. Father had made a good name for himself and I had the responsibility of living up to it. When I went up the stage, I saw him sitting in the front row. He motioned with his hand as if to say ‘go on’. From the moment on, I felt energised; my fears disappeared. During the interval, I sent the manager to fetch the man who looked exactly like my father. But he couldn’t find him. In fact, the seat had been empty all along.”
