Need to protect dying art of magic: Samrat Shankar

Renowned magician Samrat Shankar Saturday stressed on the need to make efforts to keep the dying art of magic alive.

"Not many professionals are left in this profession. Most of them learnt petty tricks to impress the people and defamed it for some commercial gains," Shankar told reporters here.

The 63-year-old magician said the state governments should come forward to set up training academies to keep the profession alive.

"We have submitted proposals to various governments, including Himachal. We want to set up an academy either in the vicinity of Shimla or Manali. But there is no progress in this regard," he said.

A similar request, he said, had been made to Haryana so that an academy could be set up in the vicinity of Delhi.

Shankar, who runs a school of magic in Delhi, called for waiver of entertainment tax on magic shows in the country.

"We are, however, thankful to the chief minister here (in Himachal) who has waived the entertainment tax for our shows in Shimla," he added.

The magician has performed over 28,000 shows in the country and abroad, including 23,000 for charity.