Do you believe in magic

Muggles, beware - there's a rise of all things ?magical on our small screens. Vir Sanghvi gets behind the scenes on this enchanting trend

Suddenly, magic is a big deal again. Just turn on your TV and you're sure to find a show called Breaking the Magician's Code, or another called Magic's Greatest Secrets Revealed. Both claim to explain how some of the world's most famous illusions are staged. It follows, I imagine, the thought that since there's a market in revealing secrets, then there must be some interest in the illusions themselves.
Or look at fiction. One of the biggest made-for-TV miniseries of the last few years is Houdini, based on the life of Harry Houdini, the greatest magician the world has ever known, played by Adrien Brody. Then, there's the highly acclaimed movie The Prestige, with an all-star cast that included Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson and Michael Caine (comic-movie fans will note that this list includes Batman, Wolverine, Black Widow and Alfred the butler). Less good, but still watchable, is The Illusionist with Edward Norton.

And then, there are the new age magic performers. In the UK, Derren Brown is a huge TV star. Dynamo (the stage-name of a part-Asian magician) is so big, he even turns up on fashion catwalks. On TV, Criss Angel has a hit show. The Las Vegas magic superstars Penn and Teller have reached a wider audience by making their own TV show in which they challenge amateur magicians to fool them.
And there's now even a magic movie franchise, Now You See Me. After the first movie, starring Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Jesse Eisenberg, turned out to be a hit, a sequel is due later this year and more pictures in the series are planned. And that's not counting the existing superstars of magic like Siegfried & Roy or David Copperfield (Britain's Paul Daniels died last month).
Magic is almost as old as the tales of ancient Indian fakirs who levitated or sat on nails. The Great Indian Rope Trick has been in circulation for centuries. Even the tradition of stage magic is ?not new. We think it began with Houdini - but the truth is that the Hungarian-born Ehrich Weiss (who would later take up the stage name Harry Houdini) was actually ?inspired by tales of the great French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin. And even Robert-Houdin merely followed the older tradition of European stage magicians.
But, it is true, that until a decade or so ago, magic had begun to lose its sheen. In India, such magicians as Gogia Pasha and PC Sorcar drew full houses in the 1950s and 1960s. But by the 1970s, the crowds had begun to drift away. PC Sorcar's talented son, who performed as PC Sorcar Jr was reduced to performing in B-class centres because big city audiences had become too sophisticated to watch a guy in a silk turban saw a lady in half.
Some magicians survived in the West, but with the exception of David Copperfield who always draws packed houses, most only perform in Las Vegas. Even Paul Daniels, the UK's biggest magic star, was lampooned mercilessly for his toupee and his tendency to go out with pretty girls who were much younger than him. Eventually, Daniels ditched the wig and began making appearances in small towns.
So what accounts for magic's renaissance?
One view is that audiences had tired of men in top hats ?and tails performing on stage - and many of the old-style performers still dressed like Mandrake the Magician. The new generation take a more rock and roll attitude to magic. Criss Angel actually dresses and behaves like a rock star. The likes of David Blains and Dynamo prefer street magic, where they eschew the theatricality of stage performances and do their tricks in open air. Blaine is famous for suspending himself high up and surviving without food, as helicopters hover around taking TV footage (I'm still not clear how this counts as magic, though; Dynamo is very much a man of the people.).
Another theory is that the Harry Potter movies gave magic a new lease of life. Young people were so thrilled by the idea that magic was ?possible that they were willing to give magic-?ians the kind of attention their parents had earlier denied.
I have a theory of my own. These days, much of what would have been considered magic in the old days has now been made possible by technology. So we are less impressed by technological wizardry in the age of CGI and 3D TV. Instead, we value human ingenuity and respect man's ability to create tricks that fool us without recourse to technology. Just as industrialisation has led to a new reverence for artisans and artisanal products, so it is with magic. We are not impressed by FaceTime on iPhones (though only two decades ago, this would have been considered incredible) but are more impressed by a guy who can stand right in front of us (as so many of today's street magicians do) and pull off something incredible (without using technology) before our very eyes.
The older generation used lots of technology on the quiet. For instance, one of Copperfield's most famous tricks was called Snow. The illusionist would talk about how much he loved snow as a child and then suddenly fly up into the air (by means of a well-concealed harness) as "snow " began falling all over the stage. It was a great illusion but it required machinery and engineers to pull off.
In contrast, one of Dynamo's more famous stunts was at the end of a fashion show for the lifestyle and boots brand Hunter. Dynamo walked the ramp, then leaned a little to the left and kept leaning till his body was at an impossible angle (45 degrees or so) to the stage. As the audience 'oohed' and 'aahed', Dynamo finally righted himself, clenched his fists - and vanished. It was as impressive as Copperfield's Snow. But a lot less complicated.
As you may have guessed, I'm a fan of magic. So I'm thrilled by the new boom in it. I just hope that it lasts this time.