Leading mentalist and hypnotist Mohit Rao, who has performed in 10 countries throughout five continents, presented his 350th show in Kolkata at Salt House on June 24 for members of the ALFA Network. Organised by Naman Ajitsaria, the chairperson of ALFA Network, the event was hosted by ALFA Network’s social chair members Rohan Ganeriwala and Tanay Agarwal. The evening began with the socialisation session of the ALFA Network members for the purpose of networking, followed by Mohit’s acts that made the evening entertaining and memorable for them.
Mohit’s show, titled ‘The Magnificent Mind Readers of Marble Arch’, had four major segments. Mohit explained the show as an experience based on real events that he has "drawn from his past life in 1884 AD in London". Mohit’s acts were divided according to "the four historical figures whom he had encountered in his past life", namely Marianne Stokes, Wallace Wattles and Franz Brentano and William Franklin; followed by the brutal fate that the mind readers of the Marble Arch suffered.
Throughout his show, Mohit dressed up in interesting attires that added to the fun element of the show. He called upon several members of the ALFA Network to the stage during the acts to make the experience more interactive. He played with the mind of a guest to make him feel he is in Alaska. Mohit read the minds of eight people, each of whom had read eight different words from eight different pages of two separate books. Mohit created the full circle moment at the end of the show with the words — “Never” and “Just” and “Never stop. Just Believe” was the phrase that was found on the bands that were given to each audience member previously. The show ended with DJ Zia Mokami’s mixes that added fuel to the energy on the floor.
A Telegraph chat with Mohit Rao:
This is your fifth show in Kolkata. What do you like best about the city?
It’s one of my favourite cities actually and one of the things I love about it is the lovely mix of old and new. It’s got everything, a lovely melting pot.
Since when did you develop a passion for mind reading?
I used to work at TCS as part of the corporate marketing team from 2006 to 2012. I quit that in 2012 to perform these kinds of shows. I’ve been doing this now for 10-11 years, so this show will be my 350th show across 10 countries and five continents. I’ve always had an interest in this but when I was working in TCS around that same time I got very interested in the way the mind works and I like performing on stage. I sort of combined the two and it became this.
What inspired you to pursue your career in this?
An obsession became an occupation. So, I did one show, my very first show for MakeMyTrip in 2012, and after that with every show I have been telling myself that this is the last show and in the process, I did 350 shows!
What has been the most memorable moment of your career so far?
I don’t know if it is one moment…I think it’s the reaction of people after the show. We live in such a high-stress world and the show is about 45 minutes and for those 45 minutes nobody is thinking of their problems or their worries. They are all engrossed in what’s going on stage, and I think that feeling is what keeps me going, to have people engaged and involved and forget their problems for just a little bit of time and have fun.
What are some of the challenges associated with your work?
The whole goal of the show is to be very unique and very different, which means that there’s no template that we can follow. We cook up ideas and use our experiences to make the show unique and fresh, and this is always challenging and pushes us to try new things and think out of the box.
Pictures: B Halder