Need to keep the art of magic alive: magician Samrat Shankar

Noted magician Samrat Shankar today made a fervent appeal to keep the art of magic alive and said governments should come forward to check its misuse for commercial gains by some unscrupulous people.
"I am concerned about the fading art of magic and plan to set up an academy to impart training to young people in wonderful art of magic to produce good professionals," he said while talking to media persons.
"I have requested Himachal government to give me five acres of land at Shimla or Manali for setting up the academy but there has been no response so far," he added.

Shankar said, "Not many professionals are left who are pursuing magic as an art and most of the people in the field learn basic tricks to impress the people and often misuse it for commercial gains".
The 63-year-old magician, who has showcased his talent across the world over the past three and a half decades, is in town for his magic shows beginning tomorrow.
"We had submitted a proposal to the previous government in Himachal with entire data and requested for five acres of land to set up an academy but there was no response", he said, adding that a similar request had been made to Haryana government.

Raising concern over the slow demise of the art of magic, Shankar said television shows have diverted the attention of the younger generation who now have little interest in watching the live shows of magic.

"There were some TV shows by some foreign magicians, which I believe, only tried to bring out secrecy of magic. This should be discouraged", he said.
He called for waiver on entertainment tax for magic shows in the country and said it was not at all profitable venture of late, given the rising costs.
The magician has performed over 28,000 shows across India and abroad.