It was on a bright Sunday in 1972 when a small book titled Magic in the Family Circle, peeping out of a stack of books on a pavement at Abids in Hyderabad, grabbed his attention.
“I had no clue about magic but I bought it since it cost me only 25 paise. I read through the whole book, practised a few ‘sleight of hand’ magic tricks and performed in front of children in my family and their friends,” recalls Dantuluri Satyanarayana Raju, popular as Magic Star Bose.
What started as a hobby soon got him so interested that he could not enjoy his professional career any more. After pursuing a diploma in mechanical engineering at Tanuku in West Godavari district, he worked as a supervisor at Nagarjuna Sagar canals in Nalgonda district but quit in a couple of years and started spending more time performing magic shows whenever he got a chance.
In 1973, he shifted to Vijayawada and opened a shop at Autonagar. But the charm of magic had its spell on him and he would frequently visit Mumbai to buy more books or material needed to perform. He was also a banker for a few years till be met P.C. Sarkar Jr. in Kolkata in 1976 at his home and expressed his desire to learn magic from him. The latter sent him to a firm to learn new magic tricks which put Bose in a different league of magicians.
The next year, he was in Tadepalliguem, promoting magic in a big way through writing columns in vernacular dailies and magazines and to reach out to a bigger crowd, he shifted to Vijayawada again.
Monthly magazine
From here, he launched a monthly magazine on magic called Mayadandam, established People’s Magic Circle (India), a national-level association for magicians, in 1991, and followed it up with a series of national-level magic festivals.
Then came the Mayabazar Magic Centre, which supplies ‘magic’ equipment to magicians.
Mr. Bose has picked up quite a few awards during his ‘magical’ journey till date. The latest one is the ‘Admirable Achiever Award’ he received from Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit at a function organised by the United Writers’ Association on August 4 in Chennai.
“Magic is both art and science with many advantages,” he says, adding that educating people using magic as a tool gives him utmost satisfaction.