Neel Madhav: I want magic to earn the respect it truly deserves as a profession

We catch up with Neel Madhav, who is all set for his new TV show, to gain some insight into the life of a magician and how he deals with competition, people decoding his magic and keeping it real and creative.

Neel Madhav

Read excerpts from the interview...

What pushed you to pursue magic as a career option?
It was all unplanned. Nobody or nothing really pushed me into taking it up as a career option. It all started at 16 years of age when I was in Boston. A chance meeting with the legendary magician Jason Randall at a talk he was delivering at which I arrived at the last minute opened an infinite world of possibilities for me! One thing led to another and very soon I found myself pursuing magic as a career option.

There are very few renowned magicians in the country - who was your inspiration and why?
I derive my inspiration from anything and everything in the daily course of life. I feel it's all about finding magic in the everyday things, which is also what my show You Got Magic is all about. That said, it was people like Jason Randall and James Randy who actually inspired me to fully immerse myself in magic.

What kind of difficulties did you face in your line of career?
Not too many to be honest. I just want magic to earn the respect it truly deserves as a profession and achieving that sooner than later is my biggest challenge, you could say.

There are people now who know how to break the magician's code and illusions - does that worry you?
There's competition in every field on a given day. One trick or the other will get repeated by someone or the other since people in the magic scene are all equally smart and talented. One can't, therefore, live under the obvious fear of one's magic being decoded. That said, my art is centered around giving people an experience to cherish.

Have you tried any other reality show?
No, nothing else as yet. The whole purpose of being associated with this show is to make everyday people experience magic in their lives by way of bringing it to their TV screens. I've realised that people get really happy when I do magic with them. So I just thought why not take it to a higher level.

Every magician has a signature style, what's yours?
I don't scare people by my magic. Instead, I try making them happy! If there's anything like a signature style, this may be it.

How do you discover new elements and tricks for your shows?
I visit new places and find things that belong to that place and those that make it interesting. And then I try making my magic around them. Apart from that, I read a lot, self introspection and I spend long hours analysing global magic trends.