‘James Bond of Magic’ conjures up own TV show
DURBAN illusionist Mahommed Moorad, whose stage name is Mo Magic, will make his debut with the television show of the same name at 7pm on Saturday on SABC 3.
The 34-year-old, dubbed “the James Bond of magic”, began dabbling in magic while studying towards his honours degree in electronic engineering.
“After graduating I worked as a project and customer manager for six and a half years, then resigned in 2010 to focus on my passion for entertaining with the art of magic,” he told POST.
He explained that while at university, he had gone through a “period of self reflection” and began to question his path and purpose.
“While I enjoyed a number of elements of engineering, I felt that there was something missing. I began attending personal-development classes and soon learnt that we could choose the quality of life we wanted for ourselves.
“A few weeks later, while working on our design project with a good friend, we took a break. He asked me to switch on the television while he made us coffee. It was here that I saw David Blaine astonishing people with his magic.
“I had seen the same show a few years prior and it did not resonate with me then. However on that night I felt as if something inside me had literally shifted,” he said. “It was an immediate knowing that this is what I wanted to do – to astonish, entertain and share the experience of magic with people. It’s been an amazing 13-year journey thus far.”
Moorad appeared on lifestyle shows Mela and Top Billing and became a familiar name after being featured in POST a decade ago.
He described his new show as a “fun and innovative production with me, a South African magician, performing worldclass magic for a variety of celebrities, sports stars, actors, musi-cians and other South Africans”.
The magic ranges from sleight of hand to mind magic (mentalism) and stunts.
“I focus on being authentic, sharing who I am with the audience and connecting with them on an emotional level first. I treat them with respect and as if they are the most intelligent people I know,” he said. “They understand that when we are together it’s about sharing the experience of magic and not about tricking them.
“I also create presentations that are emotionally engaging and perform magic with objects that they can relate to – for example, magic with money, and creating the illusion of reading their thoughts.”
Moorad, who has performed in countries such as the UK, Sweden, Turkey, Angola, Zambia, Belgium and India, said there were times when people would ask for lotto numbers or to predict their futures.
“But that’s now very rare as people understand that I’m an entertainer and that it’s an art form and not anything supernatural. If people do ask for the lotto numbers, it’s in jest, and we have a good laugh about it.”