Like it or not, one thing is certain: The Indian world of Magic has changed over the last three weeks. And clearly, this is only the beginning.
I am speaking of “India Magic Star” currently airing on Star One – a first for magic on Indian reality TV. Surely it is the first of many clones that will follow.
All in all, any exposure to magic on prime-time should be good for the art of legerdemain, unless it results in exposure or is so bad that people abhor it.
I have not watched all episodes (don’t blame me!), but what I saw has not left me feeling good. The magicians on the show – save one (or two) – are rather rusty and leave a lot to be desired. Plus, the initial acts performed were blatant copies of international acts.
If blatantly copying well-known acts was not bad enough, the performers unashamedly claimed these as their own creations! And if you took a magical pudin-hara to digest that lie, they claimed being the first and only ones to have performed these effects in the country!
What’s worse, the judges – erroneously referred as “master magicians” – go ga-ga and wah-wah over anything that is shown, irrespective of how it fared; even when the replay showed how the trick was done!
I remain hopeful that Franz Harare who joined the show this week brings respectability to the show. Our one chance to woo our audiences depends on the difference Franz brings to this bad show.
[This article was published in the 23 July 2010 issue of the Vismayam Magical News. Nakul Shenoy is available at nakul@nakulshenoy.com and twitter.com/Indimagi]
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