Gopinath Muthukad is the most famous illusionist and magician in Indian today. He's only the second Indian recipient of the Merlin Award, the magicians' Oscar - awarded by the International Magicians' Society.
Yet he is not merely a magician who practices his art or science for entertainment. Touring through the length and breadth of India Gopinath calls for national integration, also spreading the message against terrorism.
He founded the first ever magic theme park in the world at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. Magic Planet has a special centre named M-Power which trains differently abled children in magic. A report by Thiruvananthapuram Medical College found that learning and performing magic before an audience has helped the children to improve and attain independence in their life.
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Gopinath has trained 23 autistic children to perform magic at this park. “It was not easy to train them, in the first few months they smashed the cameras but gradually settled in.”
He says it was a proud moment for Gopinath and the differently abled kids to perform for 40 minutes before the Chief Minister and Governor as well as the Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari.
So what is magic, we ask Mr Gopinath.
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“It’s a science - magic is connected to four different sciences, maths, physics, chemistry and psychology.
And the secret?
“Practise, practise and practise.”
He adds that we are all normal human beings and we can use magic in two ways." One is obviously to entertain, and that is it’s main purpose," he says, "But some people are misusing it to show they possess some supernatural powers.”
Mr Muthukad says he is against the myth of some self-proclaimed godmen trying to prove they possess supernatural powers, and tries to create awareness amongst the public.
Another false claim that Gopinath says he challenges is that of the pseudo-scientific practice of mid-brain activation of children. “This is international fraud," he says. "Advertisements claim that the human brain has two parts and in-between is the mid brain, that’s true! But the claim that the claim that the mid-brain of kids can be activated to bring out the sixth sense is totally wrong.”
