GUWAHATI: Suranjeet Choudhury, popularly known as Illusionist Jeet, is a well known magician from Guwahati. The young artist has, in a very short span of time, made a mark in the Indian magic circuit. He is recognized as a mentalist, a close up magician and a street magician whose strengths lie in card and coin tricks.
Born in Guwahati to Binod Choudhury and Anamika Choudhury, Suranjeet underwent primary education up to class 3 at Sankardev Vidya Niketan, Nagaon before moving back to his hometown where he studied at Sankardev Vidya Niketan, Guwahati until class 10. Suranjeet then went on to pursue higher secondary education in science stream from Asom Jatiya Bidyalay. He then studied Civil Engineering from Royal Global University (RGU).
At a very young age, Suranjeet developed an interest in the art of magic. The more magic shows he saw, the more his interest in becoming a magician grew.
“I developed an interest in magic watching magic shows during melas organised in the city. After the shows, I used to meet the magicians out of curiosity and also buy the tools they used to try and figure out the tricks. My parents thought it was a fad that would wear off. But here we are, years later, and the fad hasn't worn off yet,” the magician exclaimed, speaking to G Plus.
Suranjeet soon got engrossed in learning new tricks and performing them in school for his friends or at family parties. The journey that started when he was a young child studying in class 6 has now come a long way. He has performed at cafes, restaurants, corporate parties and various other events – in Guwahati, Delhi, Kolkata and Tinsukia.
While pursuing higher secondary education, Suranjeet started performing professionally during Bihu and Durga Puja. He has since performed at multiple eateries of the city including Shanghai Salsa, Vivanta by Taj, Radisson Blu and Alfresco Grand. He has also received the award for ‘Second Best Magician in Northeast India’ during a competition organised by the Northeast Magic Association in 2016.
The turning point, however, in the magician’s career was when people started recognising him for his shows that they saw on TV – Magic Moment with Vikram (Prag Channel) and Illusionist Jeet (News Live). He said, “When people started recognising and appreciating my works, I realised that magic is what I want to continue doing.”
Suranjeet, whose magic has been influenced by renowned mentalist Peter Turner, believes that to do magic, one needs to understand two things – science and psychology. “Once you learn one trick, you can innovate with multiple tricks on your own instead of copying the tricks of other magicians,” he told G Plus.
While Suranjeet is a magician by passion, he is a teacher by profession. He runs a coaching institute for medical and engineering students in Guwahati, where he is currently teaching physics to over 25 students. He has earlier worked in DLF Delhi and also opened a construction firm based in Delhi in partnership with his brother.
Unlike most other magicians, Illusionist Jeet doesn’t perform magic just for the money. A man who believes in giving back to the society, he organises blood donation camps and flood reliefs with the money earned from the magic shows. So far, he has organised three flood relief camps, four blood donation camps and has also donated blood 14 times. He has also started an NGO called “Helping Hands” along with his under graduation friends at their college.
Talking about the magic scene in Guwahati, Suranjeet informed G Plus, “There’s been a tremendous rise in the number of magicians in this part of the country but sadly, there’s no unity among them. The audience here has still not evolved - very few people actually understand ‘magic as an art’.”
“In rural Assam, the situation is worse. People continue to have stereotypes surrounding magic, thinking it to be some sort of ‘jaadu’ and often tend to get scared of us,” he further added.
However, looking at the increasing number of magic shows being organised here nowadays, Suranjeet is hopeful for a change in the attitude of the people towards magicians. With that hope, he wishes to continue his magical journey for as long as he lives. Suranjeet aims to keep bringing a smile on the faces of his audience and keep bewildering them with his magic.