Vanish! Kolkata’s Houdini dies while performing daring act

World’s greatest magician Harry Houdini almost a century ago had popularized a magical treat where he tied his hands and legs and in a cage went under water, then he escaped from the cage and swam ashore. This was the very trick that Kolkata’s magician Mandrake tried to perform yesterday infront of a huge audience who were watching his act from the bridge, from the shores and also from boats.

Though magician Chanchal Lahiri had performed this trick before in 2013 and ended up with the audience understanding the presence of a secret door to the cage, this time he could not come up swimming. His plan was to swim back after escaping from the cage underwater. This 41-year-old magician from Sonarpur has performed 2,500 shows worldwide. Similar acts were performed by famous magicians PC Sircar Junior, a variation of it was done by Indian Houdini Gopinath Muthukad who named it the ‘Water Torture Escape Act.’ This act was originally performed by Hungarian born American illusionist and stunt performer Harry Houdini on a tour of Europe where he challenged the police to keep him handcuffed and then he jumped underwater and escaped. He could also hold his breath inside a sealed water drum.

Unfortunately Kolkata’s Mandrake could not save himself. The magic really went wrong.