The series, You’ve Got Magic With Neel Madhav, will present a new perspective on magic and the best of travel, food, culture, history and heritage of India, says the magician. By Team Viva

What made you believe in magic?

It all started when I used to go to Harvard Business School with my father. There, he learnt creativity and innovation from a magician. It was surprising to see how magic was treated with a completely different perspective outside India. So that changed my thought process. I always thought magic was only Abra-Ca-Dabra.

I remember my father once invited me to Harvard to watch a magic show. For some reason, I was late, which angered me. Negative emotions were running through my mind but a glimpse of the magic show changed something in me. Long story short — the magician literally had the power to take away all the negativity that I had in me. After two hours or so, I did not even realise that I was angry or sad. I felt like he had the superpower to just take away all woes. I understood that good magic had the power to heal you in a certain way. And I thought maybe in this world, something like this is very essential. That’s when I knew what I wanted to be and ended up becoming a magician.

How is You’ve Got Magic With Neel Madhav different from other exploration shows?

I am very excited. I am over the moon. I am elated. I am trying to find more words in the dictionary right now to tell you how excited I am but I can’t think of many. I think it’s high time that magic as a genre gets accepted. And this time, it’s accepted by such a great media house. Who could be better than Sony BBC Earth? I think it’s an amalgamation of all good things to make the right potion. It’s the best of magic, travel, food, culture, history and heritage. It’s a show through which most number of people in India and across the world will be able to explore Indian heritage and culture in the most magical way.

What draws you more — the travel or the reactions of people while you perform the magic?

I think they go hand in hand. In my experience of travelling, magic is a major part of the interaction that I do. A lot of communication and conversation happens after the magic, which actually acts like an ice breaker between the audience and me. It breaks through the general norm, the thought processes and the perception that someone has.

We look at it through a regular person’s perspective. If a random person woke up in the morning not knowing that he will see magic today or he’s going to experience something as magical as that, the perception of the person is different because if you take someone off guard, the conversation just gets better. It becomes more real and truer.

What kind of practice does magic require? How do you stay on top of the game?

To have expertise at anything, you need practice. If you know you want to become better than David Copperfield, you work hard for it. It’s as simple as that. There are no shortcuts. I wasn’t born with extra-terrestrial powers or this art of magic. This is just skin and I believe that in the process of wanting to master things, each day is a gift to practice and learn more. And every performance is practice in itself. So just keep adding on and on.

Which was that one location you would like to revisit?

All of them. We under appreciate our Indian heritage, culture and history. All the places have been amazing and I’m the luckiest person to have experienced so many of them. I have spent the last six years of my life travelling across India and now, I have officially been to all the 29 states in India. I have done the most magical things and not so magical things — all at once!

Have you performed your art for any celebrity or influencer? If yes, then how was that experience? And if not, then who would you like to perform for?

My go-to magic effect is definitely to reveal someone’s ATM pin. So whenever I meet a celebrity or artiste,  that is the first trick I try with them. This obviously has one and only one reaction where they call me a ‘deadly guy’ or a ‘dangerous guy’. I kind of know almost every celebrity’s ATM pins ranging from the Queen of Bhutan, who does not actually have one but she made it up for the trick, to the Prince of Kuwait and knighted people from London. Well, the list goes on...

Your favourite trick?

As mentioned, I love finding peoples ATM pins. It’s the creepiest and fun magic I have ever performed on celebrities. It’s interesting, keeps people on their toes and also enough for them to not want me to dive deeper into the game (Laughs).

(The show premieres on March 23 at 10 pm on Sony BBC Earth.)