Manick Sorcar speaks to The Foundations TV

Transcribed by Divya Mendiratta

Gauri :  Welcome everyone to Foundations TV. Our guest today is Mr. Manick Sorcar; who is a very honorable person. All over the world he has been honored by so many different universities and so many different organizations. He has a firm of his own. And he’s a world renowned Laserist himself. And we are sitting here backstage with him getting ready for a laser show in Boston; expecting close to 500 people to come and watch a show on Swami Vivekananda today.

So welcome to Foundations TV Mr. Sorcar. It’s such a pleasure to have you here and to talk to you, and hear all about your accomplishments. It’s just so inspirational just to be sitting next to you.

Manik :  Thank you.

Gauri :  Of course you are such an accomplished person yourself; I’ve been reading about you. You have so many things in your name; you’ve authored books, you own a company, and your have started courses in laser engineering in Universities, and you are doing these phenomenal laser shows all over the world. Of course you are very accomplished yourself, but people always will still associate your name with your father’s name Mr. P.C. Sorcar, the famous magician, so why don’t we start off with that. I would like to hear a little bit about your childhood or a special memory that you have with him.

Manik :  Of course. All that you have mentioned about the things that you’ve liked, the little accomplishment that I’ve achieved, are all because of the hands-on experience I had backstage at my father’s magic show. I was very young when my father noticed I was interested in art, as well as in lighting. He inspired me to paint backdrops of his magic shows; and that’s how it started. When he found out that my art was good, he inspired me to do more. When I saw my own art being appreciated by the audience, I wanted to enhance that with lighting and marry art with science. Dad noticed my efforts, one lead to another, and eventually I found myself doing all the lighting design for his intriguing magic items. So, it was my father who was the inspiration behind all and I learned the basics of lighting and art from, which later of course, I took to different fields.

Gauri :  Wonderful. So it started off as an inspiration from within the family and then you went on to do electrical engineering yourself. And how did the laser part come in, was it some inspiration that suddenly came in, or you watched something, how did you come to USA; tell us about that journey.

Manick :  Absolutely. Being so much attracted to lighting as well as art, I knew that this is the field where I was going to pursue and build my own world of magic. So, I took my father’s blessings and set off on my own. First, I took admission at Banaras Hindu University, which is known as IIT Varanasi now. I studied electrical engineering and got my bachelors’ degree there. I wanted to study more, so I came to the USA after getting admission at University of Washington in Seattle, and a tuition scholarship there. I continued in electrical engineering and earned a Master’s degree, emphasizing on lighting. Along with studies, I was also practicing and displaying my art shows, as art was in my blood and I could never separate myself from it. Things started from there. I remember I ran across an ad in the newspaper by Howard Butterweck & Co, that had published the need for a fresh electrical engineer with artistic lighting background, and I just couldn’t believe it! You see, at the time I was in a Greyhound bus in Denver, going towards New York to look for a job. When I saw that ad, I called them. They asked me if I could come for a quick interview, which I did and I landed the job. Howard Butterweck & Co. eventually became Butterweck-Sorcar Engineering Company a few years later.

Gauri :  Wonderful.

Manick :  At the company, we were using laser and prescribing laser, for multipurpose in the industries. One thing lead to another, and then one day I discovered myself trying to use laser for artistic purposes. I tamed the intensely bright beam of light to a harmless paintbrush; the result now speaks for itself. 

Gauri :  Beautiful. And when did Swami Vivekananda’s idea, creating a whole laser show on Swami Vivekananda’s life, when did that come in to your mind?

Manick:  I’ll mention one more step then I’ll be able to get to that.

Gauri :  Yaa, please go ahead.

Manick :  So what I did was, I took laser and came up with the idea how to do animation with it. My goal in the first project was to combine or marry laser animation with live action. ‘Dancing with my Soul’ was my first laser-live animation show, a short three minutes program, where my daughter would dance.

Gauri :  Lovely.

Manick :  Here the story was, a skilled dancer has lost her confidence just before her actually show and she is sitting very sad on the stage, my daughter was acting this.  When she is sitting sad on the stage, out of her comes the laser soul of her. The dancer sees her reflection in the soul and is stunned, wondering where did it come from – finally realizing it came from within her!

Gauri :  Beautiful so almost like manifestation of inspiration itself

Manick:  Yes the inspiration, which is the soul, actually trying to teach her like ‘here are the steps that you forgot’. It animates the steps and movements to teach her, they become friends enjoying teasing and pushing each other, a true live and laser combination.

Gauri :  That’s just so beautiful. I hear there’s going to be a dance show today as well. Is it close to what we are talking about here or is it completely different?

Manick :  Not exactly, the program we will see is on Swamiji, and I’m coming to that. After ‘Dancing with my Soul’ program, I did several other shows, which were the step stones for a bigger and more challenging project.  Today you will witness the world’s longest laser animated documentary on a human being, which is on Swami Vivekananda.

Gauri :  And he has a such a lovely message to give to the world. So I think this is just absolutely perfect.

Manick :  Just very timely. I was always inspired by him. His messages really have been a huge source of inspiration in my life. In 2006 to be exact, I took my wife to Chicago in Art Institute, where in 1893 Swami Vivekananda had delivered his famous speech. I wanted to see the spot where he stood, gave the speech, and hypnotized the whole world. When I found the spot, it was a thrilling experience just to be standing there. My research on Swamiji basically started from then; I knew that I was going to do a documentary on him with laser. The research had been going on since then. About 2 years ago, when the Art the Institute of Ramakrishna Mission in Golpark, Kolkata contacted me to do a laser animation - a laser documentary on Swamiji, I just couldn’t believe it!

Gauri :  They say if you have a strong passion within you the whole universe will conspire to make it happen. So looks like that’s what happened with you. You had a dream, you had a passion, something you really believe in.

Manick :  Something you really love, you put your heart and soul in it, put so much of hard work especially for a good reason, and I know the God sees all that. This offer from Ramakishna Mission was the biggest reward I could get, I was humbled by it. There was no looking back. I put my heart and soul in it, developed the storyboard, and each and every step in doing the animation and 3-D effects. I’m immensely thankful to the Library of Art Institute, which gave me a lot of help in research. The State of Illinois was also of great help to me. All these, together with my personal research, today we have the show - and in God’s grace, the project has taken off like a rocket.

Gauri :  It’s true that anybody in this whole world can be as successful as they want in the worldly terms, but what touches from heart is actually true success. And what you are doing right now is coming from within, I can see that. I can definitely feel that.

Manick :  We’ve got two U.S. born daughters and seeing them growing up, we realized they needed to learn about our roots and culture. But in the name of teaching the last thing my wife and me wanted was to force them to do something against their will. We realized, it had to be done in a way in which they would be attracted on their own.

Gauri :  Yes, they would want to be part of it.

Manick :  Absolutely, they have to be in love with it from within. That’s the best way we could teach them.

Gauri :  And you have no idea what your are doing to do the rest world, your daughters are feeling it and so many other people who are flowing with it. Because they are also feeling that energy that you are projecting out.

Manick :  Every parent feels the same way. So what I did then was, I made some animation shorts where I had them perform. This was shown in local TVs in Colorado - which was another source of inspiration for all of us. That lead to ‘Deepa and Rupa: A fairytale from India’, based on a children’s story from Bengal and produced in English. What made it special is that this was the very first Indian animation in which live action was integrated, combination of the two, first time ever in Indian history. It received a host of awards including the ‘Gold Plaque’ at ‘Chicago International film festival’.

Gauri :  Excellent.

Manick :  So that was a beginning and it was a huge source of inspiration for my daughters. The film had a national telecast by Doordarshan in India. In the U.S., ‘Deepa and Rupa’ and other animations of mine have been telecast on the PBS channels for the last 20 years in a row. These were the stepping stones of inspirations that are effective even now.

Gauri :  Yes, that its very motivational and very stimulating for all of us to hear as well. All our viewers I’m sure will really appreciate listening to this story a lot. You have in every sense of the word, with every aspect of the word ‘success’. you have achieved it. From within and from a worldly perspective with all the titles, and with all the different accomplishments that you have to your credit. Now my question is, where do you go from here, where are you headed?

Manick :  Actually I feel, since US is my home and I live here, my solemn duty is to bring all the good things that I have learned in my life, and present them in a media and language in which the youth will be attracted. I mean, not only the Indian youth, but also the youth of the whole world. The fables that I use for my animation such as ‘Deep and Rupa’ and others from ‘Panchtantra Katha’, are beautiful, simple stories each with a subtle moral message in it. So, the youth are not only entertained, they also get a message to make it useful in their life. Swamiji’s story is even more fascinating.

Gauri :  Ya, I’m looking forward to seeing it today.

Manick :  As you know Swamiji came in 1893 at the ‘Parliament of World’s Religions’ in Chicago Art Institute where he had given the famous speech. His message was on religious harmony and brotherly love that must exist to be able to enjoy and appreciate each other’s culture. The message is powerful and I felt, in this era of unrest, it is more applicable now than ever. So, that was one of the reasons why I built this show now. The adults perhaps already know or heard of him, but it is their children and other generations who would get the maximum benefit out of it.

Gauri :  That’s beautiful. And what I understand, I did speak to some people from SEWA international; so this is completely in resonance with the guidelines that they are following as an organization. So before we end our interview, would you like to give our viewers a message?

Manick :  Absolutely, first of all I would like to thank SEWA International for giving me this opportunity - not only to do the show in Boston, but around the country in 17 cities. Their motto as you know is ‘to serve humans is to serve God’, and that basically is the moral of my show as well. My message to the public, to the whole world, particularly the youngsters will be to remind what Swami Vivekananda has said in one of his messages,”Arise, Awake and Stop not till the goal is reached”.

Gauri :  Beautiful, Fantastic, thank you so much for being with us today.