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Dipti Nair
Doha
You would be forgiven if you defined a mentalist as a magician who tricks the mind. That was my perception too, and having watched many magic shows in person and on TV, I felt anyone with sharp observation skills can figure out how an illusionist 'works' his 'magic'. So it was with scepticism that I prepared myself to meet Nipin Niravath, a famed Indian mentalist, who was in Qatar for a psychological entertainment and motivational talk 'Connecting Dots' organised by CADD Arabia at the Hilton, Doha.
At first glance, he came across as a regular person in comfortable clothes and a flat cap, no sign of a cape or top hat anywhere. One of the first questions I asked him was what is mentalism? Instead of answering me straight, he asked my permission to do a small demonstration. Giving me a calculator, he asked me to compute a few numbers of my choice, which also included my date of birth. Another guest present was also asked to input his choice of numbers into the calculation and I ended up with a 12-digit number. Niravath then casually asked me to pick up his Qatar Airways boarding pass lying on the table behind, on which he had flown into Doha the previous day.
To my total shock and disbelief, I realised that the number on the calculator, which I obtained after doing many calculations, was the same as the digital number of the boarding pass.
"That," he said with a flourish,"is mentalism."
"It is all about the wow factor, what you are feeling right now. This is the highlight of my shows. When people see such shows on TV, they feel it is fake or pre-planned. But when they see it live, it always ends up astonishing them, rendering them so speechless at times that they even forget to clap, just look on in wonder," said Niravath.
I could totally relate to the feeling of wonder as with just that one trick he had me completely mesmerised, and like a child, I was looking forward to more. He went on to showcase his abilities with a few more tricks, each more delightful and unbelievable than the last.
"Mentalism is a mixture of mind-reading, influence, suggestion, hypnosis, body-language analysis and understanding micro-expressions. But the main thing is to create a wow-factor and entertain the audience. Showmanship is a very important part of the success of a show. It is not enough just to be able to perform mind-reading tricks, but you must also give a performance that thoroughly entertains the audience," explained Niravath.
But is it really possible to read someone's mind?
"Maybe not exactly reading the mind, but I can definitely fool or influence another person's mind. I can influence your subconscious mind to act in a way that is of my choosing."
He explained his statement with a simple misdirection trick where he asked me to choose a number from one to 10, and while asking me to do it, very subtly he used his fingers to influence me to choose the number that he wanted. The indication was very subtle and unless he had pointed it out to me, I would never have noticed.
"It is purely psychological, a science and an art," he said. But he is quick to point out that he is not a psychologist and neither has he learned the particular science.
"I'm not a person who does therapy, even though psychology is a huge part of what I do. My job is to create amazing things and astound people. Even advertising or marketing uses psychological analysis to predict market reactions and influence behaviour. It happens in everyday life to everyone.
"Body language is also one of the key elements of what I do. Everyone has some mannerism or the other that they themselves are not aware of and which might be a common indication of their thoughts. What I do is observe these movements and try to guess what it means, and if I can guess it correctly, then I can influence the person's mind to get the answer that I want."
He punctuates this by asking me why I'm tapping my finger. Is it because I'm still sceptical? It unnerves me as I realise that while I'm trying to understand him, he is busy studying me.
"It all comes down to observation skills. And because of that I would say a mother is the best mentalist in the world. A mother can aptly predict a child's reactions to any given event and can detect even the smallest movement the child makes. This is because she is always watching the child and observing his behaviour and reactions," he said.
Niravath said he got into this profession because he wanted to do something extraordinary as he feels normal is boring. He learned mentalism at a workshop in Florida after which he practised the craft for five-six years before he started performing.
He says that while entertainment is his focus, he has also found practical uses to mentalism: one of them being to fight crime. His mentalism abilities have been utilised multiple times by the Kochi police department, where he is based, to help question suspects.
Niravath's abilities came to the fore and he rose to fame due to his appearance in a television show in India's Mazhavil Manorama TV Channel. He was a guest on numerous episodes of 'Ugram Ujjwalam', a very popular show of the channel. Now, he hosts a show titled 'Vismayam The Mentalist Show' on Kairali TV, an instant hit and which has made Niravath a household name in South India.
He is also known for his motivational talks and he frequently conducts training workshops on leadership, personality development, entrepreneurship, public speaking, business and life skills in India and abroad. He is the founder of 'Fortis Mente', a specialised training programmme to achieve success in business and life.
"I feel a person needs to get recharged every once in a while, to regain his energy and to refocus on aims and life goals. There are many things in our minds. Many times our emotions are suppressed and that is a pain and torture. It needs to be taken out. My motivational training is focused on rejuvenating a person, returning his self-confidence and realigning him with his life-goals."
But what are his life-goals?
"Everyday is a new experience. I have a lot of new projects coming up, many shows around the world. I just want to be someone loved by everyone."
For more information, visit www.nipinniravath.com.
