K Lal wove his flying carpet in Kolkata

Long ago when magic was associated with the black arts and sleight of hand taken for miracle, a 7-year-old boy in Kolkata easily unravelled the tricks performed by a street magician.

Impressed by the boy’s curious, observant and sly mind, the street magician took him under his wing and that is how Kantilal Girdharilal Vora, K-Lal, entered the world of magic.

K-Lal was taken to the 5-minute performance of a street magician by his grandfather. Harshad Vora, son of K Lal, said his father was fascinated by the magician’s tricks.

“But when it ended, my father met the magician and told him in detail how every trick had been performed. The magician was shocked but also realised that perhaps my father was indeed gifted to be a magician. He took him under his wing,” said Harshad who is himself known as Junior K Lal.

K Lal was then taught by the magician Ganpati Chakravarti and another man called Kumar Babu. He studied magic under them for 25 years and gave his first solo performance in 1940. The 1.5-hour show was followed by a full 3-hour grand show in the 1950s at Toxy Cinema in Kolkata.

Originally from Bagasara in Amreli, K Lal’s family had migrated to Kolkata in search of better opportunities. The family still has the saree shop that they opened in Kolkata way back in the 1930s.

In his lifetime, K Lal gave 20,479 shows with 3200 performances in Japan alone. He toured the country for 18 years. “He performed in Japan, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, and almost all countries of Africa,” said Harshad Vora.

He further said that his father was the first person in the family to take up this profession. “Before that we were a family of businessman. No one could have imagined us going into this field,” said Vora.

Guinness entry on the cards
Harshad Vora said that his father holds the record of the highest number of solo ‘magic’ performances in the world. “We are in touch with officials of the Guinness Book of World Records and they have unofficially confirmed that his name will very soon make it to the record books,” said Vora. He added that the Gujarat government had also forwarded K Lal’s name to the Centre to be considered for a Padma Shri.

Last wish yet to be fulfilled
K Lal’s son said his father’s last wish was to have a magic academy on the lines of the film institute in Pune. “He did not want the art to be lost. We will talk to the government about it but as of now his wish remains unfulfilled,” said Harshad Vora.

Favourite trick
K-Lal’s favourite trick was the one in which he brought Gandhiji back to life. It was a hit with the audience as well. “He felt that the nation and the youth in particular were forgetting Bapu’s message. Through this act, he wanted to take Bapu’s message to the audience,” said Harshad Vora.

Refused to rename trick after Oz
"He was a humble man," said LD Parjanya, editor of Kala Shrinkhla, a magazine for magicians brought out from Udaipur.
"Lal saheb was a member of our governing board. We had known him for 38 years. He had travelled across the world,” said Parjanya.

“I still remember the time when he had travelled to Australia and was performing the famous 'Water of India' trick. The audience had asked him to call it ‘Water of Australia’ but he refused. ‘I will never do so. If you want you can give me a ticket back to India,’ Lal had said. He would not tolerate anything against the country."