Protul Chandra Sorcar (23 February 1913 – 6 January 1971) was an Indian magician. He was an internationally active magician throughout the 1950s and 1960s, performing his Indrajal show before live audiences and on television. Sorcar died of a heart attack at the age of 57 in Asahikawa, Hokkaidō, Japan, on 6 January 1971, as he left the stage at the end of a performance. P.C. Sorcar is known also as P.C. Sorcar Senior (as his son P.C. Sorcar Jr. also performs under the same name), is renowned as "Father of Modern Indian Magic".

Career

At the age of 21, Sorcar decided to give up formal education (he was likely to study to become an engineer), and decided to become a conjuror despite the profession's low esteem in India.

Sorcar became famous in the mid-1930s, when he performed shows in Kolkata and also in Japan and several other countries. Among other routines, he performed a Floating Lady routine featuring aerial suspension in 1964. Ganapati Chakraborty was his P. C. Sorcar's world-famous 'Indrajal' shows were supported by a highly skilled technical team. Among his most notable associates was his Senior Assistant, J. K. Nandy, who was considered a master of the intricate mechanical secrets behind Sorcar's illusions. Nandy traveled globally with the troupe during the 1950s and 60s. His technical expertise was so vital that his subsequent departure from the troupe to join Magician K. Lall's team was noted as a significant turning point in the professional rivalry between the two magic legends (Source: Gentleman Magazine, December 1996)."

In 1956, he performed the sawing a woman in half illusion on the BBC's Panorama program.

  • Padma Shri (the Lotus), awarded by the President of India on 26 January 1964
  • The Sphinx (Oscar of Magic), US, 1946 and 1954

Publications

  • Magic for You (1966)
  • More Magic for You (1965)
  • History of Magic (1970)
  • Indian Magic (1983)

See also

  • Indian magicians

References

  • P.C. Sorcar International Library