‘Bieber is just a kid’

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As a young boy, Franz Harary wanted to become a musician and work on Broadway. But a magic kit as a gift on his 13th birthday changed a few things for him. While he remained interested in music — he even became a stage designer for music shows — he also developed a fascination towards creating illusions. Now a famous illusionist, Franz started set designing with Michael Jackson almost 30 years ago, before realising that his real interest lies in creating magic illusions.

Franz, who was in the capital to unveil the largest man-made lake in Worlds of Wonder, NOIDA, says that after working with the Jackson family for sometime, he got all the support from Michael to pursue his dreams. When he promised Jackson that he would always set up his stages, Michael gave him all the equipment that they were using in creating sets for his shows. And so began Franz’s journey of becoming a world-known illusionist.
Over the last three decades or so, the magician has already worked with many known faces including Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Shah Rukh Khan, Cher, Snoop Dog and many others. He has created some of the best of sets for their shows.
Franz says that while working with most of these people, he sits and spends time with them and tries to understand what they want. “And in every case I try to read their minds. Once that is done, the rest is very easy. People like Shah Rukh or Michael, who know the industry well, are pretty much clear about what they want. It’s my job to realise that. But I’m also working with Justin Beiber right now. He is just a kid and isn’t clear what he wants for his show. So for him, it’s my job to think about everything,” says Franz, talking about how he plans a particular show.
As far as his shows are concerned, since Franz started as a musician, music has become a powerful part of his life. “As an entertainment producer and not as a magician, I believe that a show becomes much more effective if clubbed with good music. Besides the sound, light, video image, the audio is equally important in my shows. If the audio is designed well, it affects you emotionally,” he says.
However, talking about magic, Franz says that it’s nothing but a thing of psyche. “One person thinks the same as a 100 or a million. You just have to know the right tricks and make the other person believe that. Our brains are tricked into believing what I show,” he says.
Franz believes that magic originated in India about 5,000 years ago. “Then it made its way to Europe and the United States. To be honest, I’ve felt more driven to show my magic to Indians than anybody else,” he says.
Right now, Franz is planning a show in Las Vegas where he’s going to open up his body and another person will come out of his chest! “That’s a little different from whatever I’ve done so far and thus I’m excited about that,” he says.
However, one of the most difficult tricks for him has been to make the Taj Mahal disappear some years ago. “That was pretty cool. But the biggest obstacle was not to make it vanish but get permission from the authorities to do so,” he quips, as he shares his wish to do time travel at the Qutub Minar. “It’s an amazing monument. I would like to travel 100 years back and see it de-evolutionise,” he adds.