Inside India’s Hogwarts: magic schools hidden in plain sight - Hindustan Times
close_game
close_game

Inside India’s Hogwarts: magic schools hidden in plain sight

Hindustan Times | By
Apr 07, 2019 03:55 PM IST

From lessons in making a friend disappear, to cutting an apple in half on a man’s head, blindfolded; the courses at magic schools draw on science, comedy and drama to groom students into master performers.

You probably wish you could make some of your colleagues disappear. But there’s only one place where you get to actually do that kind of thing (legally, at least).

Magician Mandar Patil showing a magic trick to his students at Andheri (W) in Mumbai(Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)
Magician Mandar Patil showing a magic trick to his students at Andheri (W) in Mumbai(Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)

At India’s Hogwarts — institutes that specialise in teaching magic — you learn to make a classmate disappear, transform one coin into two (another useful trick), or at the very least make a card levitate at will.

Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now.

“We don’t use mumbo-jumbo, capes or spells. We use technology and specialised equipment to create illusions,” says Gopinath Muthukad, executive director of Magic Academy in Thiruvananthapuram.

They also teach you how to be the consummate performer. “Because magic involves elements of ventriloquism, comedy, drama,” says A Sarkar, founder of Magic World, Kolkata. “We also teach students how to handle hecklers — people googling how tricks are performed during a show is a big problem, these days — and how to laugh at yourself when things go wrong.”

Mahua Nath, a full-time magician, says the most useful things she’s learnt in her one-year course are related to the art of distraction.
Mahua Nath, a full-time magician, says the most useful things she’s learnt in her one-year course are related to the art of distraction.

A typical classroom session, then, is a mix of wild demonstrations and ancient knowledge.

Institutes like Magic World, Magic Academy, the Delhi School of Magic (DSM), International Academy of Illusion and Magic (IAIM), also in Delhi, and the Institute of Magic And Allied Arts (IMAA) in Bengaluru offer year-long courses for the serious practitioner.

But by far the most popular are the weekend certificate courses for the hobbyist looking to impress her friends or add zing to an Instagram page. These students include bankers, doctors, engineers, college students, homemakers and government employees. Cardio-diabetologist from Kolkata Manna Saikat, 32, did a year-long weekend course where he mastered 52 tricks.

“Now I perform regularly at parties and even did a show as part of the Indian Medical Association,” he says. “My most popular trick is when I cut an apple in half, on a man’s head, blindfolded.”

BEGINNER’S LUCK

Beginner’s courses range in duration from three months to a year, with sessions held on weekends, and one trick typically taught in each session.

Depending on the complexity of the tricks, the course may cost you anything from 3,500 to 50,000. In a three-month course you can expect to learn about 40 tricks.

The advanced courses for the aspiring professional are also generally held on weekends, but spread out over a year.

These are more intense sessions, and can involve lessons in the theory, history and heritage of magic as well as marketing, voice modulation, body language etc.

These courses cost between 50,000 and 1 lakh.

SPELLING IT OUT

Many of the aspiring Harry Potters are chasing a thrill they first experienced in childhood. “I used to make spoons bend with my hands… people thought it was magic but it was mostly the spoon,” says Saikat, laughing. “But when I grew up, settled down and began my career as a doctor, I decided to pursue magic, for real.”

Also in the classroom are teachers who want to make their curriculum fun, and hotel receptionists who want to turn handing you the room keys into a memorable trick.

For Anamitra Banerjee, 39, who works with the government of West Bengal, magic is a break from the mundane — and earns him a tidy sum.

“Doing coin tricks had been a hobby for years, so I signed up and started learning magic nine months ago,” he says. “I now perform, mainly at birthday parties and sometimes at corporate events. The course also groomed me so I stand apart like a magician and get better offers.”

He charges 5,000 to 25,000 depending on the nature of the event. “I have also learned origami online so I offer you more than just magic tricks,” Banerjee says.

A Sarkar, founder of Magic World in Kolkata, demonstrates the sawing-a-person-in-half trick
A Sarkar, founder of Magic World in Kolkata, demonstrates the sawing-a-person-in-half trick

ABRACADABRA

If you plan to do magic full-time, the same institutes offer courses that include modules on the history of magic in India and around the world; mentalism; rope tricks; personal branding; as well as ‘general knowledge’ classes on the greatest illusionists, their greatest tricks, and unsolved mysteries from the world of magic.

At the end of the course, there are theory exams, practicals, and internships (with established magicians) for the top-ranking students.

“The testing is actually quite intensive,” says Yash Makhija, 19, a college student from Delhi who did a comprehensive course at the Sangeeta School of Magic and now teaches there too. “Every alternate class is a test. You cannot start learning the next trick until you master the previous one. That’s also the best way to avoid mishaps on stage.”

From DSM and IAIM to Magic World, Sangeeta School of Magic in Delhi, Magic Academy, and IMAA in Bengaluru, they all began offering courses for beginners between one and three years ago. “We realised there was a lot of demand from hobbyists,” says Sarkar of Magic World. “The main different between the courses for beginners and for professionals is the types of tricks we teach. Also, for professionals, there are sessions on voice modulation, body language, marketing, video-making, audience management etc.”

For Mahua Nath, 26, a full-time magician with a team of 15 who does stage shows and corporate gigs for a living, it was the lessons in presentation and distraction that were most helpful. “We learnt that one person needs to do the anchoring to keep the audience engaged, some corners of the stage need to be left dark, music must be used to create drama,” she says.

An expert from the Delhi School of Magic demonstrates a few card tricks to students from a local school.
An expert from the Delhi School of Magic demonstrates a few card tricks to students from a local school.

Casting a spell

The institutes are run on trade licences issued by municipal corporations and have no affiliations to educational institutes. The certificates are props, in a sense. It’s the inside view — the peek behind the velvet curtain, as it were — being offered by experienced magicians that is the real draw.

They also help you dress up your magic CV. “The institutes give you photos and videos of yourself performing tricks, which you can then share on social media to help you get gigs,” says Nath.

There are some trick you learn that you likely wouldn’t ever find online. For Nath, that was the box-to-motorbike trick that is now her specialty. “I have always been fascinated by stories of fairies that make people and things disappear and reappear. I can finally do that with the use of some science and technology,” she says, laughing. “It took me a few months to master it and now I charge a premium to perform it on stage. The trick goes like this — I am handcuffed, tied in a sack and locked in a box. The box is then covered with a sheet. My assistant chants Alakazam and, boom, I appear from behind the stage on a bike. I have been performing this trick for a long time and people have still not been able to figure out how it’s done.”

It’s also just fun to be in the classroom. “Someone will be looking in the mirror to perfect their body language, someone else solving a Rubik’s cube to hone concentration, or getting together to design new props in the breaks,” says Anup Jha, 20, a student at Magic Academy in Thiruvananthapuram. “We are taught to moderate our ego and work as a team. You learn very quickly that you may be waving the wand, but everyone has to play their role for the trick to work.” 

Oscars 2024: Nominees to Red Carpet Glam! Get Exclusive Coverage on HT. Click Here

Catch your daily dose of Fashion, Health, Festivals, Travel, Relationship, Recipe and all the other Latest Lifestyle News on Hindustan Times Website and APPs
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Share this article
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
OPEN APP
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On