In Fort Kochi, 23-year-old Amal Ramesh is taking a different approach to the art of mentalism. Moving away from large stages and dramatic illusions, he focuses on close-up performances that rely on psychology, suggestion and audience interaction.
Amal’s performances are in intimate spaces. There is not much physical distance between the performer and the audience. The lack of a stage makes the experience more personal as the acts happen within an arm’s reach.
During a recent performance, at FeelHome in Fort Kochi, the effects were simple but surprising.
I was asked to think of a random number while Amal wrote something on a piece of paper in advance. When the number was revealed, it matched exactly what he had written.
Another instance that completely blew my mind was when my friend was asked to close his eyes while Amal touched my nose. Despite this, my friend reacted as if his own nose had been touched.
In another act, I was asked to scroll through Amal’s phone and select a random movie. Without saying the name aloud, I was guided to think about the movie, count the number of letters and focus on individual letters. Amal then wrote down the exact name of the movie.
Another game involved choosing a book from two. After stopping at a page of my choice, I was asked to look at the first word on the page and think about each letter. He correctly guessed the word. Well, colour me intrigued!
To know more about Amal’s talents, I spoke to him after the event. His interest in mentalism began after he completed his Class 12 studies. But he used to play mind-reading and guessing games with his friends even at 13.
His curiosity about the human mind made him delve into psychology. “One of my earliest experiments involved asking my mother to hide a key in the house. Blindfolded and holding her hand, I managed to reach the exact location of the key.”
He recalls another moment from his early years, “I was waiting for a friend at Marine Drive, when I repeatedly thought about working in Kochi. Two months later, I found myself working in Fort Kochi. It was only later that I realised I had been looking towards Fort Kochi while standing at Marine Drive. This instilled my belief in the power of manifestation and the law of attraction.”
After joining FeelHome and working closely with its event space team, Amal launched The Mystifier, said to be Kochi’s first close-up mentalism show.
His performances now extend to colleges, corporate events and private shows for tourists. He also regularly practises his craft by interacting with people in public spaces around Fort Kochi.
“I have noticed the difference in culture while reading the minds of tourists. Japanese people, for example, display a lot of gratitude after. Some become afraid when I introduce myself as a mentalist. They often try to shield their thoughts,” he smiles.
According to him, people often misunderstand mentalism and assume it involves predicting the future. However, he adds, “My work is purely for entertainment and is based on observation and suggestion rather than fortune-telling. I don’t do psychic reading.”
Even in this era when AI is all the rage, Amal believes that human intuition cannot be replaced as he continues to perform with the tagline ‘No stage. No distance. No safe space’.