Samala Venu, who received the Indian Magic Academy’s (IMA) Lifetime Achievement Award-2025 (Golden Magician Award) at its 10th anniversary and on the occasion of the Magician’s Day celebrations in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, has given over 7,000 performances across India and in over 30 countries across the globe.
Guinness record
Hailing from Hyderabad in Telangana, Mr. Venu, who entered the Guinness World Records twice, was instrumental in starting the Diploma in Magic course in Potti Sriramulu Telugu University for the first time in the country.
He received six awards from the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and an award from the Government of India.
Levitation, i.e., making a body float in the air and making it vanish, cutting a woman into pieces, making a stick dance in the air, making birds appear out of thin air, ‘zigzag lady’, and cutting a human head, are some of his magical acts, which are a big draw at his stage performances.
“I have learnt magic to pursue my dream of travelling across the globe, and my profession has given me an opportunity to follow my passion. When I was in Std. X, I had earned ₹50 for my first stage performance,” Mr. Venu, who had been enthralling magic lovers for more than four decades, told The Hindu.
Non-stop show
He performed a non-stop magic show for 36 hours, without repetition of tricks, in September 1990.
“I drove a scooter blindfolded for 17 days, covering 3,186 km across the 23 districts in combined Andhra Pradesh to promote awareness on eye donation and AIDS in December 1990,” he recalled.
“A professional magician can earn anywhere between ₹25,000 and ₹1 lakh a month by performing at birthday shows, corporate events and the like. There is good demand for magic shows, and I am proud to have produced over 200 students, who are well settled in the profession. There is demand for an estimated 2,500 magicians in both the Telugu States, and the demand is increasing,” he said.
Mr. Venu received the ‘Best Social Worker’ award thrice in a row from 1986 onwards from the Indian Red Cross Society. He also received awards from Lepra India Foundation, Lions Club, and Rotary International. He has a number of national and international awards to his credit.
“I have appealed to the governments of A.P. and Telangana to bring out an Anti-Superstitions Act on the lines of the one being implemented in States such as Maharashtra and Karnataka,” he said.
Published – February 24, 2025 08:21 am IST
