Samala Venu is not just
a magician, but he has also cured many psychological
ailments through his knowledge of hypnotism.
He admits that no one can be unwillingly
hypnotized. The subject’s willingness
is a necessary precondition for successful
hypnotism.
Gilly gilly
goo, Abracadabra, Chhoo mantar.
There are
screams of delight from the gathered children
at the Indira park as magician and hypnotist
Samala Venu, a Guinness Record holder, performs
his bag of tricks during the festival of
Hyderabad.
He is titled
Jaadu Mahaveer working with the Transport
Corporation of India as a Public Relations
Officer, from where he gets the maximum
cooperation to avail leave whenever he wants
to, for performances in India and abroad,
he entered the Limca book of records and
the Guinness bok with a 36 hours magic show
at a city hall, and riding blindfolded on
a Kinetic Honda for 3,186 kilometers in
17 days. He also drove blindfolded on the
crowded city streets.
But it has
not been easy to reach this stage in his
vocation, for he’s spent ten hard
years practicing his art to perfection.
As he says ‘Magic is blend of action,
mine and manipulation of figures’.
A soft spoken
person, perhaps the perfect PRO that, TCI
could have got, Samala Venu also casts a
hypnotic spell on you, not just by his words
and his smile, but also by his talent. Yes,
he is also a hypnotist, apart from being
a magician. He has cured nearly hundreds
of psychological patients through the power
of hypnotism. But he admits ‘Nobody
can hypnotise one if the person is not willing
to be hypnotised. The subject’s willingness
to become a subject is a necessary precondition
for hypnotism to be successful’.
In fact,
he has hypnotised a whole gathering of youngsters
called on the stage, as they listened dutifully
to his instructions in their semi-conscious
state. ‘Some of them even called out
chai garam loudly, as if they were hawking
tea on the railway platform’, (laughs
loudly).
But it is
not only children and youngsters who enjoy
his performances. Adults too become children
when they witness his interesting and humorous
magic shows. But he strongly refutes the
quite common allegation that, magic too
is mass hypnotism. ‘It is only tricks
done with finesse, and a process of engaging
the audience with nonsensical words and
mindless gestures while and get your act
together’. And there – the hankey
has turned into a pigeon, it’s already
set free from nowhere – bird lovers
need not worry.
Setting free
or breaking free from established rules
is what magic is all about after all. It
takes you into a wonderland, a fantasy world
where things don’t happen logically
as you read them in your physics text –
books at school. Actually, they are made
to happen illogically. For the mind needs
some rest and breakaway from the daily logic
and rationale existence. That’s the
raison d’etre of magic – the
human mind’s willing suspension of
disbelief. Of course, the magician too plays
his role.
Abracadabra,
the next item is on.
The next
scene shifts to New York and other cities
of the USA where Samala Venu performed to
Indian. American and other international
audiences during the festival of India in
early part of this year. There, he also
met the reigning Miss Universe Sushmita
Sen. For both of them, it was mutual hypnosis
– she was hypnotised by his magic,
and he by her beauty. Besides, he shared
many other beautiful moments with different
people during the festival of India in the
early part of this year. There, he also
met the reigning Miss Universe Sushmita
Sen. For both of them, it was mutual hypnosis
– she was hypnotised by his magic,
and he by her beauty. Besides, he shared
many other beautiful moments with different
people during the festival in the USA. Of
course, he has traveled to other nations
too, and give more than 1,500 shows throughout
India, Canada, UK, France and USA.
In the course
of his travel to several countries, he has
also learnt many new tricks, which he does
not reveal, because they are now his trade
secrets, as ‘You have to keep on updating
your knowledge and add new items to your
briefcase’.
His briefcase
must be really building with certificates
of honour and awards. Noteworthy among them
are Active magicians award (1985), Best
1986 magic award, OU cultural ambassador
award (1986-87), State Youth Award (1992),
Outstanding youth award (Hyderabad Jaycees),
Appreciation magic award (Canada), Best
social worker and merit award (Indian Red
Cross Society), and Festival of Indian in
USA award (1994).
Apart from
his busy magical life and as an employee
at the TCI (which he does not plan to leave
in a long time as he gets maximum support
from them for his endeavours), he does a
good deal of social work too. He has donated
blood several times, served food to flood
victims at Machilipatnam and Nellore in
1990, performed in many fund – raising
ventures for the disabled, physically and
mentally handicapped and also conducting
charity shows for leprosy organisations.
Several
feathers are already fluttering in his ‘magician’s
hat’. Till the next one is added,
Chhoo mantar, Jantar mantar…
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