








The Sorcars on their 25th wedding anniversary.

History loves repetition
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Birth
and family :
Magician
P. C. Sorcar (Junior) is the living legend of Indian Magic. He
is "BANGAL-KA-JADU" personified and is what "Magic of India" means today.
He comes
from the famous SORCAR family of HINDU-MAGICIANS, and this family of
"MAGICIANS" or "WONDER-WORKERS", are popular in this field atleast for
EIGHT GENERATIONS. Each generation contributed its share of mysticism
through centuries and thus have become a house-hold name and are romantically
associated with Indian Folk-tales, Fables Literature and Facts. To an
average Indian, SORCAR and MAGIC are synonymous.
It is P.C.SORCAR(Senior),
father of P.C.SORCAR(Junior), who popularised their family art of "MAGIC"
beyond the boundaries of India elevating the presentations to a more
prestigious pedestal of theatrical form of International standard, keeping
the Indian traditions as the central motif. He gave a new lease of life
to the dying art and thus is recognised as "THE FATHER OF INDIAN MAGIC".
P.C.SORCAR(Junior)
elevated the status of magic further more from the position where his
father left it, to this futuristic mystery-spectacular-entertainment
show for the intellectuals, successfully competing with the other forms
of theatrical shows. He has added modern techniques, surrealistic sequences,
third dimensional choreography, mixture of rustic, tradition and modern
music, classical dance along with the intellectual-illusions created
by psychological directions, superb technical and mechanical instruments
along with his super showmanship and personality. P.C.SORCAR(Junior)
is the professional stage name of PRODIP CHANDRA SORCAR. Prodip
is the second son of the late P.C.SORCAR,Senior (Pratul Chandra Sorcar),
Padmashree, the Father of Indian Magic and was declared by his father
as his successor. Both his elder brother, Prafulla and his younger
brother Provas Chandra, have also learnt conjuring from their
father. "Ours is a family of magicians . . . and performing magic
is our birthright. Even the cat in our house is a magician", says
P. C. Sorcar Junior.
But it
is in him that the inherited art has borne most fruit, spanning the
entire world, and giving fresh life to a once neglected art. P. C. Sorcar's
mother is Mrs. Basanti Sorcar, a noted philanthropist , who has
been a source of courage and inspiration to her son. Coming from a family
with a great respect for education, P.C.Sorcar Junior is a double graduate
in both Arts and Science and has an M.Sc degree in Applied Psychology
from the University of Calcutta
P.C.
Sorcar Junior married Jayashree, daughter of , Sri Aroon
Kumar Ghosh and Smt. Nilima Devi on May 22, 1972. Her beauty
and talents have since lent wondrous support to P. C. Sorcar Junior's
performances. As a costume designer or choreographer, or as the beautiful
damsel who levitates, disappears, is cut into halves or stretched, Jayashree
is a vital part of both, the magician's life and career.
The
Present:
The couple
have three daughters, Maneka, Moubani and Mumtaz. "My daughters make
my art alive", says Prodip Chandra, the family man, who travels
with his daughters whenever he can, on his tours. It is inevitable that
the three girls show the charm and talent of their parents. They are
completing their education, but the ' magnetic field of magic' in which
they have been brought up has made them begin to share the stage with
their parents occasionally. At least one of them is destined to become
a magician, because as P. C. Sorcar Junior says "The Goddess of Magic,
Mahamaya Durga wants at least one lady magician like Queen Bhanumati
in our family".
Inheritance
Made Alive
P.C.Sorcar
Junior's development as a magician is a continuation of the tradition
that made his father his 'guru' or teacher. He began performing in his
teens, when he was still in school, forming a group of his own, and
presenting some of his own inventive items. His father was so happy
with his development that he announced to the World that his 'magical
successor' would be his son Prodip Chandra.
In early
1971, Sorcar Jr. had just finished his M.Sc. final examinations, while
his father was away in Japan on a tour. At the end of a show at the
City Hall of Shibetsu, wherein P.C.Sorcar had declared that it would
be his last performance, but the show would go on even if he were to
die, he suffered a massive heart attack, and before breathing his last,
expressed the wish that his son Prodip should continue his engagements.
His death on January 6, 1971 propelled P.C.Sorcar Junior immediately
on to the international stage. The disciple son did not even have the
time to indulge his grief. When his father was being cremated in Calcutta,
he was on stage for his first show in Sapporro, North Japan.
But all
those who doubted whether the son would be able to match his father
were silenced by the sheer talent, rich presentation, and flamboyant
performance of P.C.Sorcar Junior. Today the master magician has set
the highest standards, scaling ever new heights. But his acknowledgment
of the tradition represented by his father and other ancestors is ever
present. "Even in the way I call myself, I never refer to myself except
as P.C.Sorcar Junior, to remind myself and others, that there was a
Senior", says the caring son.
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