KOCHI: If you ask Suhani Shah why she decided to become a magician, she would give you a peculiar reason. “When I was a kid and someone would ask me what I wanted to be, all I would think is that my answer shouldn’t be the same as other kids,” she says. Her resolution worked like magic indeed when she decided that she would take up a career in the art of illusion.
Having done her first show at the age of seven, Suhani is now a professional hypnotherapist, author of five books, a great orator, and an illusionist who travels around the world. Her story may be hard for many to digest, especially the fact that this above-average IQ student left schooling at Class II. She only resumed it at 13 and decided to author a book, but didn’t know how to read and write. She now speaks fluently in English and performs in front of native speakers who are constantly in awe of her tricks.
“I would give entire credit to my parents, especially my dad, who made that choice for me. When my school examinations clashed with a US tour, he decided I will carry on with my passion,” she says.
Suhani, who will perform at The Hive, above French Toast in Panampilly Nagar this Friday, is a storyteller with plenty of experiences to share.
Suhani explains to yours truly about the many genres of Magic, a craft that isn’t as popularised yet, according to her. Stage illusion, escapology, parlour magic, and mentalism are few of its divisions, though the list is a lot longer. “I started off as an illusionist, but now I am a mentalist. But mentalism is a tedious art—reading minds and making predictions can be risky business when your audience has paid for a show,” she says, adding that it took her years to earn the confidence for it.
She remembers incidents when people would mistake her illusions for supernatural powers.
“I was nine and performing in Rajasthan, and someone asked me if I could cure his illness. In Kanpur, the audience wanted me to magically pick out culprits involved in a robbery. And when I was 13, a sick man walked up to me while performing in Nashik and said I was his last hope in staying alive. I gave him some water, he drank it and said he felt better. It was just placebo, but I think I helped someone,” says the Mumbai-based entertainer.
Suhani’s Kochi show will be an interesting 90-minutes, interactive session.
“I would call volunteers on stage, read their minds, have them open their phones and guess their ATM pins, or even dive into deep childhood secrets,” she says, adding that Magic and mentalism are all bout knowing how to handle a crowd. “Its an art, getting them to focus where you want them to,” she concludes.
From 6-10pm. `499 per head