Magical solutions

“I used to hate magic. Coming from journalism background,my approach towards things was practical. It was after marriage that I got involved in it more,” says Archana Kulkarni who learnt magic from magician Zama in the 80s as she adds,“Magician Bhimsen from Rajasthan chose me for his performance in Pimpri that involved creating social awareness using magic as the medium. Being inclined towards social service,that became the starting point where I decided to amalgamate the two.”

One of the tricks in the show is about a beer bottle and a glass wherein while pouring the beer,the glass remains stuck to the flowing beer and does not fall on the ground even when the magician leaves it from the hand and Kulkarni says,“Through this,we demonstrate that like the glass,even man becomes dependent on liquor. We then go on to tell them how one should never touch liquor. At one point,the glass leaves the liquor being poured from the bottle and with magic,we convert the liquor in the glass into a bunch of flowers conveying that life is beautiful without liquor.”

Probably the only lady in Maharashtra who uses magic to create awareness,Archana Kulkarni and her husband have done over 10,000 magic shows in urban and rural Maharashtra and even in other states such as Andhra Pradesh,Tamil Nadu,Kashmir and so on. With hundreds of items for addressing social questions relating to value education,equality,family welfare,adult education and so on,their experiments offer education packaged and wrapped in the cover of entertainment. “Another trick involves two different coloured,semi- circular wooden plates that once appear shorter than each other and the next time look equal in length. People are often amazed when we show them this item. The reality is that there is Geometry behind that experiment and that the experiment is based on Geometrical principle that the inner circumference of a circle is shorter than the outer. When we explain it to our audience,they realise that magic is not supernatural,it is a skill,” says Vinod Kulkarni.

Wearing the black robe,red cap and playing the role of a magician-cum-social worker has worked wonders for the duo as the stories they narrate range from how a young boy in Ambejogai left liquor after seeing their shows or a man on Tadiwala Road who would consume 40 pouches of tobacco per month left tobacco completely and so on. “20 years of experiments with magic have given us name and most importantly satisfaction of changing peoples’ lives. What remains a concern is that when we approach the government with some support for this dying art,they turn a deaf ear. They enjoy watching magic shows,but when it comes to doing something about helping the art,they have no will. After 20 years,the only magical trick we are yet to acquire is the trick to convince the politicians,that magic is a valuable- yet dying art and that without their support,there can be no magic,” they conclude in unison.