Magician David Blaine exclusive interview | On discoveries in India, AI and magic, and living dangerously

Near brushes with death are his métier. Defying death, his hobby. 

He has held his breath underwater for 17 minutes, not eaten for 44 days, was buried under the earth for seven days, lived inside an ice block for 63 hours, stood atop a 100-feet pillar for 35 hours and of course, levitated more than once. Regurgitating frogs, sticking rods through his arm, and whipping out cards from his gut are a few of his pastimes.  “Just watch, do not attempt,” David Blaine reminds us.

The ‘extreme magician’ has lived dangerously his whole life. 

And this American’s feats have for long been the subject of obsession for millennials worldwide, televised and marketed for greedy consumption — few can forget the tense moments when he emerged from an ice cube, shivering, completely rattled, to be immediately rushed to the hospital. [He would later admit that it took him more than a month to recover, and vowed to never attempt something as dangerous as that]. But that was a lie, for by then, a ‘modern-day Houdini’ had been born. 

Today, at the age of 51, he still lives life on the edge.  

Over the last two years, David travelled the world in search of those like him or better than him; those who skirt the line between magic and learned skill. In his latest National Geographic reality-challenge show intentionally and aptly titled Do Not Attempt, the magician once again becomes a student, in the quest for feats that defy magic as he travels across Brazil, Southeast Asia, India, the Arctic, South Africa, and Japan.

It is once again a numbers game. Over the two years of filming the show, he has kissed a king cobra for three seconds, lay covered in 59 scorpions, lit his head on fire for 53 seconds, swam under three feet of ice, jumped 59 feet from a bridge while he was on fire, and meditated with six black mambas. 

In an India exclusive interview with The Hindu, the magician recalls testing the limits of human endurance over his quest through eight countries and three continents. “[Sam Dalal’s] Swami/ Mantra, a book that changed my life as a magician, and that which led me to the idea that you can combine magic with real feats and make them even more believable, was all created in India. But going to India and meeting people and seeing them do things that the book doesn’t even mention…” he trails off, nodding in disbelief.   

Fire Ramesh and David Blaine pick up burning rope together to put on their heads. (credit: National Geographic/Aditya Kapoor)
| Photo Credit:
Aditya Kapoor

In India, there were one too many discoveries, he says. ‘Fire’ Ramesh, who David was obsessed with for a long time, lights his head on fire. “I didn’t even know that he did not use fire protectors! He just uses kerosene and water. To me, it was one of the coolest acts I have seen using fire.” Then, there is Deepak Mondal who is part of a cycling circus and jumps into a mound of broken glass, at least a 100 times a year —  “Seeing Deepak dive into broken glass, and then be perfectly fine, was so overwhelming that I actually stopped him at one point,” David recalls. 

One experience that “was over-the-top” and which he considers as “hard-core viewing” was at the Urs festival in Ajmer. “The fakirs honour the Sufi saints and show that the spirit is greater than the flesh literally by demonstrating impalements and at one point, even push their eyes out of their head. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen!” he says. While he did want to try doing it himself, his eye doctor back in New York stopped him in the nick of time. “I asked him, can I try this? He simply said, ‘you are going to degenerate your vision if you start now. They have probably worked on this for many years!’ and I said, never mind that one then,” he says laughing. 

David Blaine kisses a King Cobra on the head
| Photo Credit:
Sirachai “Shin” Arunrugstichai

David’s career is a shining testament to his incessant need to push the limits of human endurance through magic. Sure, it is a performance but it also demands extreme self-discipline. A young David’s curiosity was first piqued when he saw a magician perform on the subway. He shot to fame in 1997, with television special, David Blaine: Street Magic, that aired on ABC. In 2008, he attempted to break the Guinness World Record for breath holding. In the early 2000s, he was at his most popular, each extreme stunt better than the one before; each blow more sever than the one before.

Over a career spanning decades, is there a stunt that he thinks he should not have risked attempting? 

“The one that I think was not smart was eating glass. There are chemicals in the glass and even if you don’t cut yourself apart of rip your throat or whatever else, there are so many unknown dangers to it and I hope nobody tries it. It is very dangerous,” says David, pulling us back to the reason why he called this show, Do Not Attempt. He hopes to bring attention to the long-term effects that some of these extreme feats have on the human body.

Over the years and experiences, David’s understanding of magic and his relationship with it, has gone through many iterations. “Ultimately, the meaning of magic for me is giving people a moment of wonder, where you strip away their logic and leave them in a state of astonishment. The greatest gift as a magician is to be able to give people that feeling.”  Magicians — like PT Barnum and the vaudeville performers — historically have studied skills that are not trickery but seem impossible, and converted them into a presentation that defies sense, he adds. 

“My concept of magic has expanded from just doing simple card tricks to studying people like Harry Houdini or Hadji Ali who were able to hide a gallon of water in their stomach and bring it out like a dragon. I like to do things without big illusion props. You are the prop. You use your body, a deck of cards and simple objects to create that moment. I keep searching for more things that I can do to defy logic,” he continues.

David Blaine watches as a yogi has his head buried completely in the sand in India

The theatrics around magic too, has gone through inevitable shifts in the digital age. But David believes that it is imperative to shine a beacon of light on what is real, now more than ever. “The more AI and technology keep advancing, the more people return to the need to experience something that defies their logic in real time.”  

Does that mean he would never retire from living dangerously? David says, “I work with the masters, the best coaches and teachers who have put thousands of hours [into what they do]. They have a deep understanding of what you can endure and how you can do it. If I see something, and my heart isn’t into it, I won’t attempt it. But if it gets into my subconscious that I want to figure it out, I’ll do whatever it takes to get there.” So, the answer is a resounding ‘no’.

The six-part series David Blaine — Do Not Attempt is set to premiere on April 6, Sundays at 8pm on National Geographic Channel.

David with Karan Singh
| Photo Credit:
special arrangement