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| PC Sorcar, the magic wand passes on to gen-next | | |
SUPRATIK SENGUPTA, KOLKATA, MAY 31
After taking the mantle from her world famous magician father the legendary P C Sorcar, Maneka Sorcar is now upbeat about her first ever solo show as the new-gen performer.
Appropriately titled 'Maya Bignan' (Science of Illusion), the show aims at creating a new genre of magic shows based on scientific rationale, explains Maneka who is an Ohio University MBA graduate.
Explaining he would not draw the curtains on his own show after passing on the mantle to his daughter, P C Sorcar (Junior) says both Maneka's show 'Maya Bignan' as well as his 'Indrajal' could be hosted at two different venues by daughter and father in future.
"While as a father and guru I would like her to excel in her craft and live upto the name of my father Pratul Chandra Sorcar (P C Sorcar senior), as a professional performer there will be healthy competition between the two of us between my items and her attempt to restructure the whole format and give it a new contemporary look. You may call it the competition between two generations of magicians each mindful about the significance of the name of P C Sorcar," he told PTI.
Divided in two parts -- three-dimensional and two-dimensional the Maya Vignan show was aimed at taking the viewer to a world of ecstacy, forgetting our mundane daily battle and grind of life, but with the accent on rationale and science, Maneka said making it clear she did not like the idea of being emulated to H Hermione Granger, the ficitional girl sorcerer friend of Harry Potter.
"We do not subscribe to the brand of magic of the Hogwart school. Magic is not about abetting superstition, or injecting supenatural power to an individual. Magic is nothing but based on modulity of thought where the viewer is subjected to think in the channelised way (as desired by the magician)," the young Sorcar heir says.
Explaining how she wanted to restructure the items, even those made immortal by her father and grandfather, she said it would be 'out of the box theory' where the escape of a magician from a locked trunk would not be enacted the way it had been by her father.
"Besides there will be my own items," Maneka says informing it was entirely her show, the look, the props, the items, all designed and planned by her.
For Maneka, who first 'intruded' onto the stage at the age of three in Chennai in the early 80s during a Sorcar stage show catching unawares her parents, it had been an eventful journey since 1999.
"I feel it is an expanded universe where everyone, having creative traits should have their own space to exercise his/her faculties, be it in performing arts or any others form. And I felt she loved the craft of magic on that day when she suddenly appeared on the podium at the age of three making us all bewildered about what to do.
"However, as she started imitating her mother Jayashree's acts and insisted that we followed her, things went on smoothly with a hilarious turn. And as she grew up, she became more involved and became a part of me," Sorcar junior says.
Maneka, who described the happiest moment of her life as the one when the family magic wand was handed over to her father Pradip Chandra Sorcar (P C Sorcar Jr) on May 17, says she considered interacting with the audience in a live show as the most challenging as she would have to prove equal to the surname of legendary Sorcar and not just anybody.
"I am confident people will accept me. I have been getting so many congratulatory messages after father handed over the mantle to me. Yes I know I have to be P C Sorcar and P C Sorcar (Jr) on stage. No I have to be Maneka Sorcar, who is running the solo show as the daughter/grand daughter of the legendary Sorcars, she says.
The vivacious youngster, who had documented on celluloid the eventful life of her illustrious grandfather, says her tryst as a film maker was also a tough challenge as she had to chronicle the career of Sorcar senior, a magician par excellence.
In 1971, P C Sorcar (Junior) wielded the magic wand in Saporro Japan following the sudden death of his father during performance.
Sorcar, who himself has pioneered many magic tricks like vanising the Taj Mahal and a long distance train, said Maneka will now solo perform 'human bomb' item, one of the most popular magic tricks of his shows with her own touch and and unpredictable ending.
"I feel there was nobody I could turn to due to his sudden death which pushed me to the limelight as the P C Sorcar mantle holder. I picked up many things later during my journey on my own if my daughter has to seek any guidance she can turn to me," says Sorcar, the eighth generation performer of the magician family which had migrated from erstwhile East Bengal.
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