Magic always has everybody enthralled. And more so in the past few years where one has been exposed to world class magic on channels worldwide. It’s no longer rabbits in a hat and different coloured flowers popping out from a vase. It is now an art that is being performed by stylish, young magicians dressed in designer wear who call themselves illusionists.

Tellychakkar met up with one such illusionist, Ugesh Sarcar who is currently seen performing street magic on Bindass’ 3rd Degree. This 30 year old street sorcerer can levitate a wall, morph his body, read your mind, pull your arm off, float objects and blow your mind away.

Hailing from a family of renowned magicians Ugesh never takes the legacy for granted. He has worked hard to reach the position he is in today. He believes that magic in India is conceptualised and is repetitive though the art has evolved here.

He is here to give this art its due recognition and strongly believes that if his counterparts abroad can do it then he can do it better. The magician weaves his spell on Neha Maheshwri.

Why magic?
I come from a family of magicians. My dad Mr. M C Sarcar is a renowned magician and I grew up in a magical environment. But I did not directly want to enter this field. I invested 13-14 years of my life doing many things other than magic. I did courses on psychology, computers and electronics, memory enhancement, call-centre, marketing, etc.

What does magic mean to you?
For me magic is completely different from the common perception. Generally magic to people means a lady being cut into two halves, lot of glamour and loud make-up. With due respect to people who do that but it just turns me off. I want to make it simple and easy as for me it is real people and real magic.

The art itself is dying in our country where it has originated from. I thought its high time I step in and try giving it a new face altogether and create history with my efforts. I rarely repeat my tricks as I try to give variety.

Tell us about your childhood.
I was very naughty as a child and a prankster. I loved playing pranks and I still do. That’s one key thing you can see when I am performing. The only difference is that I have taken magic and pranks to a different level. I love freaking people out and its fun. I love to do strange things.

Why did you choose Bindass over other channels?
I was actually in discussion with two other established channels. But it was Zarina’s (Mehta) charm and enthusiasm that struck the deal. She had a brilliant vision and was very passionate about the concept and the show. Instead of stepping up on a set platform I thought of making my mark first.

On television tricks can be manipulated, so how real is your magic?
I do not perform my tricks on the crew members. I love to go ahead with people who I don’t know. There is always an element of surprise and shock on their faces. That ah-factor gives me a kick. We are also planning to do live events wherein we will have a huge crowd and they will see crazy things happening with and in front of them.

Have you ever had a trick go wrong?
Fortunately it has never happened with me. We put in a lot of hard work. I give 16-18 hours a day to perfect every move and trick.

How do you keep yourself updated?
I hardly get time to watch television. I update myself by improving the existing techniques and designing new tricks. I am not interested in joining any magic clubs. I am really obsessed and passionate towards my work that keeps me going. To me conceptualising and planning in my field is very easy. I look at things around and invent new tricks. I believe in the saying, ‘The universe is your teacher.’

Who is your inspiration?
My father is my inspiration. He has built an empire all by his own. Even if I become a percent or two of what he is I would consider myself the king. It was his concept to start a magic school and share this art. We have named it Karnataka Magic Academy Trust. He is also into lot of social service. I am just following his footsteps.

Any experience that you would like to share with us?
Each time it is an experience. Some people are really scared with the term magic itself. They know I do strange things plus my look, crazy pendants, strange belts and weird sense of humour adds to their fear. I love to leave people with stunned expressions.

Don’t you think you have changed the way people look at magic?
Magic is the king of arts. Believe me I have taught a few tricks to some exceptionally good magicians but they can’t perform them. That’s because I have invested 13-15 years in practice. The reason is as Indians we at times are very lethargic. We want everything cooked. An act that takes a fraction of second to perform actually needs ages of practice. Perseverance and patience is the key and it is not everybody’s cup of tea.

Do you agree that the art of magic in India has not got its due?
I totally agree. Here people don’t want to pump in money to generate new things. We are just watching the same old tricks. But I am here to do otherwise. Now we have gone ahead and woken people up and making them aware that magic is from our country and we need to respect our magicians.

Who is your target audience?
Anyone above the age of three years and below or above 100 years. As long as you can see and enjoy my work.

What are your other plans?
As of now I don’t know if I will be a magician forever as I do have some plans. But magic definitely is a part of those plans and people will know me by that.