Magician film casts spell on foreign fest

KOLKATA: And now, the story of Kolkata’s magicians has travelled across borders. “Fading Magic: The Story of Kolkata’s Magicians”, a documentary by Kolkata-based IT professional Amit Sahai, has found recognition not only in the Indian film festivals, but has also bagged a prestigious award at the recently held IFCOM Film Festival at Jakarta, Indonesia.
The documentary deals with the lives of the city’s once celebrated stage magicians who now face tough times, thanks to changing audience tastes, free access to international shows through the internet and television. Some of them once boasted of houseful shows, but are now struggling to make both ends meet.
Stage magic has always been a part of Kolkata’s fine arts and culture. In the Sixties and Seventies, the art of magic moved from the domain of street performers to large scale theatres as the city grew to become a global centre for performing magicians. While a very few magicians still have a huge following and the resources to conduct theatrical shows, many of them are in major crisis.
The documentary is probably the most detailed capturing of the city’s magic history. It zooms into the lives of some such legendary stage magicians, for whom the arc lights have faded. Prince S Lal, Sanmay Ganguly, Sam Dalal, Rana Bandopadhyay, D Subhash and Charlie may be unknown and unsung now. Kolkata has been a global hub for manufacture of magic kits.
“The idea for the film came to me when I saw a magician perform at a birthday party in front of an uninterested audience. It struck me that something like this would never have happened with any other art form,” said Sahay, who has been a part of Kolkata’s IT landscape for more than 18 years. He currently heads international sales for an American Software MNC at its Afro-APAC HQ in Kolkata.
“I shot only on weekends so as not to affect my hectic work-life. With a team of handpicked professionals, the documentary was edited, composed, music was added and the film was completed in four months,” said Sahay. At the special screening at the National Library in April , 2015, the audience gave a standing ovation to the magicians present. “It was a matter of great surprise for the magicians too, that an individual from a totally different field was willing to take their story across cities for no benefit of his own,” recalled Sahay.
The recent award was given at a glittering ceremony in Jakarta. Other winners included Alice Krieg (Star of films like Chariots of Fire, Thor, Star Trek etc) and Robin Shau (Star of films such as Mortal Kombat, Beverly Hills Ninja, Death Race and DOA).
“More than the awards and felicitations, I’m happy that, in my small way, I managed to turn the arc lights back on the artists,” said Sahay. He hoped the newfound attention can be translated to sponsorships.