Hyderabad: Muthukad, International Merlin Award-winning magician, joins ‘Inclusive India’ campaign

This initiative aligns perfectly with Muthukad's pioneering Magic Planet, the world's first theme park dedicated to preserving public art forms and street performers. The 'Inclusive India' campaign, led by the International Merlin Award-winning magician, will run for two months and aims to promote inclusivity.

Hyderabad: Globally-renowned illusionist and magician Gopinath Muthukad was in Hyderabad as part of his all-India tour, conducting a pioneering series of magic-based awareness programmes that carry the fundamental message of ‘Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities’.

The venture goes well with Muthukad’s trailblazing Magic Planet, which is the world’s first such theme park that protects public-oriented art-forms and street performers. Two months is the span of the ‘Inclusive India’ campaign by Muthukad, who is a winner of the International Merlin Award which is considered as the Oscar in the field of magic.

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The ongoing expedition covers the entire length and breadth of the country and, in the process, bolsters the ethos of the Thiruvananthapuram-based Magic Planet’s decade-old goals – familarising the public with wizardry, reviving street tricks and employing this art to empower marginalised groups.

“By lighting lamps, we have been drawing public attention to the benefits and vitality of equal opportunities for individuals with disabilities,” says Muthukad, who heads an NGO named Different Art Centre (DAC) which is steering the mission that enjoys non-financial support from the union government’s Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

“We cover all the states, by campaigning along the mainland with a total of 41 events that includes the inauguration and culmination,” he said. While the start of the ride on October 6 was World Cerebral Palsy Day, the conclusion on December 3 is International Day for Persons with Disabilities. Overall, 36 locations dot the campaign.

Said 60-year-old Muthukad, “we highlight the need for opportunities that can express their special talent so as to boost their confidence and self-esteem. All these, through the effective use of the boundless entertainment value of magic.”

Keralaite Muthukad resides in Thiruvananthapuram and is the Executive Director of DAC he founded five years ago. The Malabar-born magician’s array of innovations in the field earned him the 2011 Merlin Award, instituted by the Internatonal Magicians’ Society of the USA.

Way back in 1995, he became the world’s first magician to perform an escape act in the stunning style of legendary Harry Houdini (1874-1926). While Muthukad founded the DAC in 2019 by developing and implementing an innovative program of ‘Magic Training’ for children with disabilities, the NGO has gone on to emerge as a pioneer in facilitating professional performance platforms for trained magicians with special needs.