Magicians clash over Mohanlal's daredevil stunt

Apr 21, 2008 NR

Kochi ( Kerala) , April 21 (IANS) Malayalam superstar Mohanlal's plans to perform a stunt called 'Burning Illusion' in Thiruvananthapuram April 27 has split the magician community in Kerala. Some say it could be really dangerous.

Mohanlal is to perform the daredevil act ahead of an international magicians meet and he has been training for the past 18 months under the guidance of Gopinath Muthukad, who heads the Magic Academy here. The superstar says he wants to motivate the Kerala youth by his act.

But Samrat, another leading magician, Monday advised Mohanlal against it, saying it was a difficult stunt and that Muthukad had once failed in his attempt to perform it.

"Burning Illusion is one item that can be performed only after years of experience and Muthukad himself failed in his attempt at a show in Bahrain a few years back," Samrat told reporters here.

"He is now using Mohanlal for cheap publicity and this should not happen," he said.

The open-air escape stunt, to be held at the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium, is a curtain raiser for the four-day 'Vismayam 2008', a programme in which nearly 1,000 magicians from across the world are expected to take part. The meet starts May 1.

Samrat said he would approach the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) with a memorandum signed by 300 magicians, requesting it to urge Mohanlal to withdraw from the performance.

But Muthukad dismissed Samrat's fears.

"We are confident of what we have planned because we have done several successful trials. We have been doing it for long and it is only now that people came to know about it," he said.