Hiring a magician in Bengaluru

What the words mean

• A kids' show, often sold as comedy magic: he stands in front of the children, uses big, colourful props and calls children up to help.
• Close-up, or walk-around: he goes from group to group with coins, cards and rings, a few inches from your face. It suits grown-ups who are standing and eating.
• A stage show, or illusions: a bigger show for a whole room, with large props and often an assistant.
• A mentalist: a magician whose tricks look like mind-reading. Two mentalists told us it doesn't work on small children, so their kids' shows are plain conjuring, or they don't do them.

Sharan Kuttappa, on what his kids' show is for:

And Akshay Singh, a mentalist, on what he works with:

At ₹3,000, look for a local magician through the school or your apartment group. Ask to see a long clip of a show before you pay, and say your budget before he quotes.

A shorter show rarely costs less. One magician charges as much for a 10 to 20 minute spot as for his full show. Another's close-up is one price for ten minutes or two hours.

Two party companies sell a kids' show for ₹6,000 on sale, usually ₹7,000 to ₹8,000 or more. Ask which magician they'll send, and watch his clips.

What the extra ₹4,000 pays for. The show is the same length. The difference is who does it. Pradeep Tyson calls himself a corporate entertainer. He has run his magic business since 2014, and his own site talks of "a decade of corporate stages". He told us he now does birthdays only from ₹10,000, for children 5 and up, and he makes the birthday child his assistant.

Mohammed Idris calls his act "sakhath comedy aada jaadu", super comedy magic. It's a show built for laughs, which he takes to birthdays across the city at one price, however many children there are.

Idris will bring a speaker and mic for ₹3,000. With Tyson you arrange your own.

Who to ask for each

• About ₹6,000: Mohammed Idris, ₹6,000. Sankalana Decorations, a decorator, lists a 45-minute magician at ₹5,500 on his rate card of 7 September 2026. The card says nothing more, so ask who the magician is, and whether sound and travel are in the ₹5,500.
• ₹10,000: Pradeep Tyson, from ₹10,000. Illusionist Rajan, ₹10,000 for a show of up to an hour with an assistant, then half an hour of close-up for the grown-ups and latecomers.

Sharan Kuttappa sits apart from both. His price is ₹80,000 to ₹1,00,000 for any private event, a birthday included, and we haven't been told what show length it covers.

Rajan on his hour, in Tamil:

In English: if I do a one-hour show, they'll be laughing the whole hour.

Compare two quotes with the same things in them: the minutes of magic, the speaker and the games.

What he needs from you

• A table. One party company asks for a table and two chairs.
• Time to set up before the children sit down. One party company's magician comes 30 minutes early.
• A mic, if the room is big. Four of the five magicians we spoke to don't bring one as standard.
• A gate pass, if your building checks visitors. He'll come with a case of props.

Agree the act list before the day. If you want no animals, or the hall bans fire, tell him early, when you book. Rajan drops his fire acts if the venue bans flame, and his show goes on without the birds if they can't come. Pradeep Tyson uses no live animals.

For 80 children, ask for big props and a mic. The children at the back can't see a coin or a card. A stage act built on big props, like umbrellas or silks, carries to the back of the room. Pradeep Tyson adds ₹4,000 to ₹6,000 over 100 guests.

Outdoors in the evening, finish before 10. Karnataka doesn't allow loudspeakers from 10 pm to 6 am outside closed halls, so a show on the podium or the terrace should end before then.

Halls, clubs and hotels make their own rules. A club can make you use its own vendors for sound and lighting. Ask the hall about fire and outside sound before you book the magician.

At an office, Rajan does his one-hour show on a small platform inside, and Akshay Singh needs only a collar mic.

As Rajan put it to us, nobody comes to a party for an English grammar class. They come to be entertained.

What to ask him

• A longer clip from a party like yours, with children close to your child's age.
• A family he did a show for recently, with a number you can call.
• Whether he comes himself. A party company's page may not name the magician, so ask who runs each part.

Tell him about the children before the day: the birthday child's name, and who's shy.

One party company asks for half upfront and at least 5 days' notice, and its offer price doesn't hold on 15 August and 31 December.

Get the date and the advance terms in a message before you pay, while he still wants your booking.