He is quicker than you think
At 21, Rahul Krishnan is a self-taught magician. And, he has 41 new tricks to his credit.
Rahul Krishnan is like any other B.Tech student; he leaves for college at 9 am, is done by 6 pm and has to deal with project deadlines and exams. Except for the fact that 21-year-old Rahul is also a magician.
A professional for the past six years, Rahul became interested in magic after watching David Blaine’s show in Class VIII. He recorded it on his mobile and kept practising. Later, he came up with his own version.
“It started when my aunt bought me a magic kit and I perfected a trick that would make coins vanish. Then I watched David Blaine’s shows, read e-books and checked out YouTube videos. I’ve learnt everything on my own,” he shares.
He focuses on practising tricks as often as he can. “The hand is quicker than the eye,” explains the student of Geethanjali College of Engineering and Technology. “This is an important thing that magicians stress upon. And you need a lot of practice. I’ve a pack of cards with me all the time.”
Not planning to be a career magician, Rahul is just happy entertain- ing people. Apart from regularly performing on the streets, college functions, birthdays and 100 stage shows so far, he has also done three charity shows at the Secunderabad Public School and Sadhana Institute for the Mentally Challenged. “My aim is to do my own tricks and so far, I have come up with 41 tricks of my own. I do only two shows per month as it’s difficult to balance my studies,” explains Rahul, whose forte is card tricks.
There’s more. He has also choreographed a magic scene and made a cameo appearance in Sekhar Kammula’s film Life is Beautiful. “I heard about the film’s shooting at Padmarao Nagar from my aunt and went to check it out. I was performing a few tricks for kids when the assistant director spotted me and took me to Sekhar Kammula,” says the aspiring TV show host.
Budget for props comes from Rahul’s stage shows. “Out of the 100 stage shows, I was paid for 10 and that was around ` 5,000 to ` 10,000,” he says.