Every second year, nearly 75 deaf magicians from all over the world gather on a common platform to show their genius in magic. Next year, they will be in the Orange City for the event being hosted by the India Deaf Club from city.

This is the third such meet of deaf magicians being held in the country and the first one in the city. The person instrumental in organising the festival here is Bhupatlal Pandhi, himself a congenital deaf and one of the few magicians to have represented the country at previous meets, in Germany in 1990 where he stood third and then at London at 1998.

Bhupatlal proposed the idea of holding the meet at Nagpur at the 1998 deaf magicians' festival in London. It was immediately accepted by the World Federation of the Deaf.

Over 75 deaf magicians would show their prowess in magic in various categories and would bejudged by renowned magicians from the country. The categories include stage magic, comedy magic, illusion magic and micro magic. Besides, there would also be two categories based on age, i.e. the junior category for magicians between 7 and 17 years and the adult category for magicians above 18.

Judges' panel includes internationally acclaimed magicians K Lal, Anand Jadugar, Simon Carmel and K K Sinha.

Speaking on behalf of Bhupatlal Pandhi, his elder brother Prataprai Pandhi told that the festival not only provides the deaf magicians with an opportunity to compete with their counterparts in other parts of the world, but also helps them share magic techniques with others. Being deaf also helps them, in that it eliminates the language barrier.

He also informed that the festival has been organised in January to match the dates of the famous Jaipur festival so that the magicians could also perform there.