Out of thin air

Alex started his career eight years ago, while still in college. A friend showed him the paddle-stick trick and after that, Alex never had to go for a career counselling lecture in a whiff, a magician he had decided to become. But he rues that unlike magicians like P C Sorkar, who was taught by his father since childhood, there was no one he could go to. "I learned my first trick only at the age of 18. After that I had to rely on books and videotapes," he says. Now he knows enough to catch the sleight of hand and the rest is easy improvise on those and add them to your kitty. He can perform over 300 different tricks and is currently studying seven tapes (each of a three-hour duration) of David Copperfield shows.

Alex specialises in close-up tricks but is now branching into stage shows and illusions. "There is more hype and glamour in illusions and people will know me better as a magician," he explains. Alex has done over 500 shows till date, at a rate of a dozen shows a month. And on a rainy day he can milk over 100 tricks from a pack of cards and a couple of coins alone. His charges vary from Rs 1,500 for a kiddy party to Rs 20,000 for a big show. Alex is making "good money" out of magic and suggests that, as in the case of any other business, a budding magician should not expect an overnight rags-to-riches story. "Once you have the experience and confidence to perform in front of an audience, you start making profits," he says. Even Copperfield started out the same way.

And with his inside information, Alex believes there is no such thing as magic. "It is the art of expressing the unusual and the unexpected," he says. A match stick hovers in thin air only during a magic show, not during the daily grind.

But it takes more than abracadabra to make money appear out of thin air. Alex says one of the reasons for his success is that he is fluent in English. "Very few magicians in India are. So I end up getting all the top contracts," he says. He has already launched brands like the Kinetic Marvel, 555 and Malibu. He is also the regular magician for the entertainment company Wizcraft. Alex develops his own concepts, depending on the budget of the client. For the bike launch, he wanted to do the Houdini Escape. His idea was to set up a haystack with a hollow in the middle. The hay would be doused in kerosene, Alex would be handcuffed, wrapped and locked in chains, lifted by a crane and dropped in the haystack, which would be set afire within five seconds. And through the ball of fire, Alexander would emerge riding the new bike. But economics did not work out and the plan had to be cooled down.

Alex has invested over Rs One lakh in equipment, with plans to triple it this year. He says magicians generally do not invest much because they do not earn much. "No one in his right mind will spend Rs One lakh for his kid’s party," he says. But with multinationals here, the rates have gone up and he believes that Indian magicians will soon be able to compete with their counterparts in the West.

His investment is backed by a more real belief: confidence. Alex thinks it is very difficult to get caught in the act. A good magician learns to cover his bloomers. "If a trick fails, act natural and pretend it was meant to be that way. Repeat the mistake again and do the trick the third time around," he says.

And if you are performing hackneyed tricks, then you need to be different in the way you speak and act. "Good showmanship is essential. Especially in tricks involving sleight of hand and movement," he says.

Alex feels that while illusions are grand because you make anything from buildings to elephants appear and disappear, close-up tricks are the toughest to perform. "With illusion, you have space, and hence possibilities. In close-ups, you perform with around 20 people crowding around you and collectively breathing down your neck. Up front is where your skills and confidence is tested," he explains.