Protul Chandra Sorcar (23 February 1913 – 6 January 1971) was an Indian magician.[1] 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, where he was performing.[2] 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".[3]
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.[4]: 151
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.[5]Ganapati Chakraborty was his mentor.[6]
In 1956, he performed the sawing a woman in half illusion on the BBC's Panorama program.[7] When he performed it on live television, it drew huge attention in the United Kingdom because the climax made it appear as though the women had actually been cut in half and died, which caused a public panic.[8]
His self-appointed title was "The World's Greatest Magician".[4]: 152
