I don’t claim to have supernatural powers: Roy Zaltsman

I remember the first time we held the new Rs 2,000 note and looked at it eagerly. Now, I watch fascinated as we watch the pink-coloured currency hovering in the air, with Roy Zaltsman’s controlling it somehow, with his hands. Before I can exclaim in surprise, he tells me to close my eyes and breathe and tell him where I think I felt his touch, as the photographer clicks away. “On my nose,” I say, as I feel a finger poke me there, “And now, my chin,” as I feel a sensation on the bottom of my face. “See the photographs now,” he says and crazily enough, his hands have been far away from my face. 

The Israel-based mentalist is in the city for the show Roy Zaltsman – The mind illusionist by Raell Padamsee’s Numero Uno productions. “I have been to India countless times, but this time it’s different. Raell threw me a challenge and I love challenges. It’s a new concept and nobody has done this before. It’s a story, a murder mystery and it’s going to be beyond ‘I can amaze you’. There’s a big surprise at the end,” he says mysteriously. But before that, we have questions to ask, and Roy answers them patiently. Excerpts from a conversation:

We know you must have been asked this question many times, but how do you do this?  

Actually, the question I get most in India, is how many hours people need to meditate in order to do this! (laughs) Anywhere else, they ask if it is real or not. The question differs from country to country and culture to culture. What I have is a talent, which I have honed over the years. It is self-taught, I did not go to any training school for this. But in order to make it a successful show, I decided I wanted to learn body language, influence and persuasion, memory enhancement, creative thinking, speed reading and rapid calculation - all the things that enhance the mind. In fact, now I give training to people, mostly corporates, on how to use these elements to enhance their minds and more. 

You started performing at the age of 15. What was it that you could do?

I knew from a young age that I could manifest things in life. If I wanted something to happen, I could really put it in my mind and it would happen. For instance, here in India, I was checking out a website and I saw this man who looked really interesting. I asked a friend who this person is, and she said, you don’t know Amitabh Bachchan? So she told me about him and immediately, I decided I must meet him. I would see him on billboards and I just knew that I would meet him soon. Then I got a request to perform at an awards function which he was attending and I even got to do something special for him. That was completely manifestation. Similarly, there are things which I did not want to happen. For instance, I used to have lot of back-pains, almost once or twice a year, so bad that I could not move. Then I realised that I have to work it with my mind. I looked into my mind to see what it is I’m doing wrong with my life, what can I change. Since then, for over 10 years, I have not had a back pain attack. 

So is it magic or illusion?

To answer this question, I will take it to the movies. There’s a famous movie called Leon The Professional. It stars Jean Reno Natalie Portman. Reno is a hitman who protects Natalie when her family is killed and he teaches her how to be an assasin. He takes her to the rooftop of a building, takes a sniper’s gun and tells her that this is a beginner’s killing machine. When you’re a beginner, you kill the victim from a distance. The most professional killer will kill the victim with a knife or with his bare hands. So that’s the difference between a magician and a mentalist. A magician needs this distance. I need proximity. A magician doesn’t need people, but I need people to do what I do. It’s not impressive if I can read my own mind, so I need someone else in order to do this interaction.

So you can read minds?

I use intuition and other psychological aspects in order to create the perfect experience for people. Some of what I do would be completely psychology. Sometimes I can influence people to think certain thoughts. Sometimes, I tell them that you have been thinking of this and they think I have read their mind but no, I have put it in their mind. It’s all for the sake of entertainment, to make people happy. I don’t claim to have supernatural powers. I let them believe what they want. 

What gives you creative satisfaction?

When I know that I have succeeded to take my show and audience enjoyment to the maximum. Every show is different. You never know what the response will be, who you will have on stage. It might be a person who does not react the best. So I need to have the right intuition to know where to steer the show. Sometimes I change an effect to make it better. My way of thinking is very modular. The other, is to learn new things. 

So you’ve had bad experiences on stage?

Many times! But the best show is when I don’t succeed, when I make a genuine mistake. Then people realise that what I do is not easy and it could fail. Once in Italy, I made two major mistakes in a show. I said, what can I do, it’s really hard! (laughs) So they booked me for two more shows because they saw it was genuine.

The show is tomorrow at 7.30 pm at St Andrew's Auditorium, Bandra.