Magician OP Sharma Senior suspends a troupe member mid-air at a show at Rabindra Bhavan in Patna. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, June 19: Magic is in the air of the state capital with the father and son duo, O.P. Sharma Senior and O.P. Sharma Junior, running shows to packed houses at Rabindra Bhavan.

The residents are ready to pay any price for the shows. Queuing up to get tickets for the shows in advance, some get lucky while others leave disappointed. The duo will be in the state capital for the next three months and residents can catch them producing cats, rabbits or even a dog from their hats or cutting bikini-clad women to pieces or suspending a member of the audience in mid air, at two shows scheduled from Monday to Saturday at 2pm and 7pm and three shows on Sunday.

The Telegraph spoke to the father-son duo, who have been in the profession for more than three decades between them.

O.P. Sharma Senior, who started his career in 1971 has become a big name in his field. Till date, the father-son duo has performed around 33,565 shows, including performances in countries like Mauritius, Dubai, England, Japan, Nepal and America. They have also set up an institution — Maya Mahal Magic Academy — in Kanpur.

The duo’s last performance in Bihar, 10 years ago, was at the same auditorium. “Laluji had then honoured me with a golden crown,” recollected the senior. He added that his biggest magic shows include making the Jodhpur fort and then Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje disappear.

Residents of Uttar Pradesh, both O.P. Sharma Senior and O.P. Sharma Junior, are mechanical engineers from Kanpur. On their reason to study engineering, Sharma Senior said: “I did mechanical engineering because I wanted to become a magician. Today, whatever illusion we create, it’s because of the studies. It is very important to know physics to become a good magician.”

He added: “Our art is not something out of this world. It is created by science and technology and 90 per cent of the illusion we create is through science. We also do hypnotism on stage but it is rare. We are not messengers of god, blessed with divine powers. We, too, are normal human beings and just entertain the audience with our magic. Our shows only provide a clean and healthy entertainment, promote magic as pure science and expose godmen, who use simple tricks to fool people in the name of spirituality.”

Son Sharma Junior said: “Through our magic we want to educate the common man and rid them of superstition. We could have actually turned saffron and turned simple magic tricks into a divine experience. There was also a possibility to claim us to be avatars of god. We could have set up ashrams and sold ayurvedic products but no, this is not the motive of our magic. We have urged the Uttar Pradesh government many times to include magic in school and make it a compulsory subject, so that the students can learn about magic tricks, which will help them see through tricks of fake sadhus and saints.”

On the business, he added: “Magic shows have become very expensive now. Today, it is far more than playing card tricks and needs a lot of investment. At present, we are touring with around with 200 employees and they are permanent employees of our magic company, Prakash Magico. We also have experts who keep close watch on the latest trends in the field of magic and a team, which conducts survey before scheduling shows in any city. At present, the set-up for our show here is worth around Rs 7 crore.”