An artist’s impression of a Magic Mansion installation.
Magician Prince Sil will perform a daredevil ‘Bullet Catch’ act to launch Magic Planet, claimed to be the world’s first ‘magic mansion,’ here today.
Designed by the Academy of Magical Sciences of renowned Kerala magician Gopinath Muthukad, Magic Planet will be an edutainment centre enabling creative exploration and learning through magic, the group said.
Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty will make a formal declaration of the project at a ceremony at Gandhi Park today evening while K C Joseph, the minister for non-resident Keralites, will launch an animated film exploring the Magic Planet. Health Minister V S Sivakumar will unveil the mascot.
“Indian street magic is a tradition we must save from extinction,” said Muthukad. “The few street magicians who ply their trade, mostly in the north of India, are struggling to make a living. At Magic Planet we want to give them a permanent venue for performance, rehabilitate them and educate their children.”
Prince Sil’s Bullet Catch show will help enlist people’s support for magic and magicians. The illusion involves an assistant firing a loaded gun at the magician who then catches the bullet between his teeth.
“It is one of the most dangerous acts in magic; but Kolkata-based Prince Sil has been performing it in public since 1977 with a variety of weapons including rifles, muzzle-loading guns and revolvers,” Muthukad said.
Magic Planet, designed for children to experience science, technology, art and literature through magic, is expected to be opened to the public on October 31, this year to coincide with the World Magic Day.
The complex, spread over 1.5 acres in the Kinfra Film and Video Park, will house a number of attractions including a museum, an underground tunnel, a mirror maze, shadow plays, a virtual supermarket to build mathematical skills, a children’s park, a food court, theatres for live performances and an R&D centre.
Another major attraction at the centre will be a ‘magical’ recreation of William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest - a work which has magic as its central motif. It is designed to help children understand and appreciate the beauty of literature.
Muthukad said around 80% of the attractions will be unique to Magic Planet, not replicated anywhere in the world and it will be able to accommodate 500 people at a time.
Chandrasenan Mithurmale, director of Magic Academy, Asia’s first institution to offer formal training in magic, said the interactive games and activities are designed to show children how sciences including physics, chemistry, psychology and biology are used in magic.