David Blaine Do Not Attempt Season 1 Episode 3
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00:00India, this is the place that changed the entire trajectory of my life as a magician.
00:19It led me on a search, not for tricks, but feats that are real.
00:42Living here is a sensory overload of colors, sound, smells, and there's an intensity that's
00:51unlike any other place in the world.
01:12The day I arrive, I discover a boy performing magic on the street.
01:19It's a trick that's almost 5,000 years old called the cups and balls.
01:31He's making the balls travel with sophisticated sleight of hand into the empty cups.
01:38It reminds me of when my love of performing began.
01:54Indian street magic has been passed down from generation to generation.
01:57It's secrets that they've learned from their families.
02:01Karan Singh is a very well-known magician here.
02:04He's offered to show me around Jaipur and explain his take on Indian magic.
02:12This is called Amir Fort.
02:14It is a palatial house where kings used to live.
02:17This is where musicians used to perform for kings and queens and things like that.
02:24And they started doing street performances, performing for people trying to get a crowd gathered.
02:29What kind of magic?
02:30Very traditional Indian magic.
02:32It shows the rope trick being performed for an audience of British soldiers stationed in India.
02:36No review of conjuring tricks would be complete without including the ever-present snake charmer.
02:42This man can lift a stone, and I mean quite a heavy stone, with his eyes.
02:46India has had a great influence on Western magic.
02:57I'm looking for things that seem impossible, but are actually real.
03:07Being a magician, I'm very skeptical.
03:10So I always think that everything has an explanation.
03:14Yeah, you and I both.
03:16I was profoundly influenced by a book called Swami Mantra.
03:20A collection of dangerous knowledge and well-guarded secrets of Indian mystics.
03:26It revealed how to perform realistic feats.
03:30Putting a needle in one eye and pulling it out of the other.
03:34Eating a thread and pulling it through the flesh of your stomach.
03:39How to eat glass.
03:45I started to realize that you could actually apply real things to magic, which then makes it much more believable.
03:51Yeah. And I think if you look around in India, you will find a lot of sadhus and fakirs who do all these incredible things.
03:57And they've been doing them for centuries.
03:59People believe them to be real, because they aren't presenting themselves as magicians.
04:05There's a spiritual aspect to it, which makes people believe that this isn't magic, this is something real.
04:11This is what I want to see.
04:15I've always been obsessed with the images of sadhus or holy men pushing their bodies with these extreme feats.
04:23Like burning themselves head first in sand.
04:27Sadhus have performed rituals like this for centuries to reach a spiritual state of being.
04:39In Swami Mantra, there's a technique that teaches you how to breathe while your head is buried in the ground.
04:45You can do it without suffocating, but certainly not without suffering.
05:07And finally seeing it with my own eyes is profound.
05:15But also unsettling.
05:23You okay?
05:25So, Yogi Ji, no food, no sex.
05:29So, Yogi Ji, no food, no sex.
05:47No.
05:48No.
05:49For how long?
05:50Twelve years.
05:51Twelve years?
05:52Yes.
05:53And if you feel incredible.
05:54Yes.
05:55Yes.
05:56Yes.
05:57I met Yogi Ji in Haradhor, a pilgrimage city that's home to many sadhus.
06:00In this community, he strives to hold himself to incredibly high standards of faith.
06:05So, Yogi Ji, no food, no sex.
06:07No.
06:08No.
06:09For how long?
06:10Twelve years.
06:11Twelve years?
06:12Yes.
06:13And if you feel incredible.
06:14Yes.
06:15Many of the sadhus are expected to undertake extreme acts of devotion.
06:30Claims of staring at the sun until they go blind.
06:34Or decades-long fasting.
06:36I even heard one sadhu held his arm in the air for over 50 years.
06:42They say suffering and deprivation bring them closer to enlightenment.
06:49This degree of willpower is something that I often think about when trying to create new
06:55magic.
06:57I know that throughout India there are performers, not just sadhus and holy men, that are performing
07:07the kinds of real feats that first inspired me and Swami Mantra.
07:17And I've come here searching for people with amazing abilities that I know I won't find anywhere else in the world.
07:24When I first saw a video of this man years ago, it was one of my favorite fire acts I'd ever seen.
07:45I really love the rawness of Ramesh's act.
07:58There are no protective gels to keep him safe.
08:02It's beautiful, and you can't take your eyes away.
08:15I would say that the people with fire are bad.
08:25This is there.
08:30I am theela.
08:35Great magic like this always looks effortless.
08:37effortless, but I understand the danger.
08:52Wow.
08:53You okay?
08:54Okay.
08:55Good?
08:56For his day job, Ramesh drives a rickshaw, but this fire act is his passion.
09:01It wasn't passed down to him.
09:03He developed it by himself.
09:05Ask him what's the most painful part of it.
09:07What part hurts the most.
09:16He says, everything hurts.
09:17Everything hurts.
09:18Everything hurts.
09:19That's why I tell my audience.
09:25I'm afraid of myself.
09:27I'm afraid of myself.
09:29I'm afraid of myself.
09:31I'm afraid of myself.
09:33I will drive men by the river.
09:36I have a marriage.
09:40I'm afraid of myself.
09:41I'm afraid of myself.
09:42I'm afraid of myself.
09:44I was afraid of myself.
09:46what he's saying really resonates with me years ago i tried to add a fire element to my own ag
10:03and on day one the back draft almost burnt my face i lost some patches of hair that still haven't
10:10grown back so i quickly learned that you better treat this very seriously each time you do it
10:16because anything can go wrong i want to learn the fire on the head how do we do that
10:40so when you feel that the heat is getting down then you have immediately down and put it yes
10:57this is the one rob said he's most concerned with by the way
11:02rob why do you like this i mean he's setting his head on fire with uh using petrol i can't
11:08can't make it simpler than that it's not my favorite okay
11:29wow okay let's try number one
11:38slow no no tension yep no tension yeah yeah slow yep yep
11:49okay good
11:53ah okay super
11:59okay down fire down okay
12:02how does it look by the way it looks amazing does it you got a picture of that
12:15wow that looks so good
12:19i don't even care if my hair gets burned off i don't even care if my hair gets burned off
12:29like it looks so good
12:37okay
12:37i love watching the way remesh just stands there casually with gasoline burning on his head as though
12:52he has not a care in the world to me this is magical and he makes it look easy but that's because he's done
13:01this for countless hours upon hours probably thousands and thousands of hours
13:15yeah turn your face off
13:28okay
13:29yes
13:37It's exciting to meet a performer like Ramesh, who has taken a fire act that's been around
13:50for hundreds of years and made it uniquely his own.
13:54And I realize how lucky I am that he's willing to trust me with his wall guarded secrets.
14:01Swami Mantra teaches how to be resourceful, using objects most people would discard, including
14:07needles, razor blades, and even broken bottles.
14:10They're not magic props, they're real.
14:13They're dangerous, they're scary, and people are doing things that they should not be able
14:18to do with those objects.
14:24It makes you feel as though it's possible to create incredible feats from almost anything.
14:31So Mufta Kurukshetra, a town in the north of India, to see how others are reinventing
14:36these types of performances.
14:40They're in the north of India.
14:52I'm a strong man.
14:55My name is Aman Dees Singh.
14:56I'm a strong man.
15:00What do you become a strong man?
15:02My body is steel-warring.
15:04I am a human.
15:05Fall, go!
15:15My heart is a joy that I can do anything in my Sikhs.
15:22Singh is a very bahadur.
15:24We are bahadur, we are working with our Tharam
15:28and we are working with the other Tharam
15:30and we are always prepared.
15:34I've been studying superhuman feats for decades, but finding the methods has never been easy.
15:51Where do you learn? Do you read books on old strongmen?
15:55First I go for a prayer for God, please help me, give me power.
16:00God see, he's a good man, he wants to become a steel man, and he is daily training hard, so God gives me power.
16:11This is a temple?
16:12Temple, Sikh temple.
16:14Sikh temple is for all religion. Everyone who wants food, free food, 24 hours.
16:21Everyone wants for night room, welcome, always welcome.
16:27I take power from my religion. And when I pray to God, God give me power.
16:34Amandeep is driven by his faith, a belief in a power greater than himself.
16:41What drives me is our ability to endure much more than we believe we can.
16:50In many stunts, when I felt that I was at my breaking point, that faith is what helped me push through.
16:56But there's a fine line between what you believe you can do and what your body can actually withstand.
17:05Is there anything that you've done that's so crazy you would never do it again?
17:21Yes, one stunt, very dangerous. I'll show you. This stunt, you see. One man, heavy man, hammer.
17:32Swag.
17:33And my head, break marble.
17:35So he's hitting a hammer.
17:37Full power, you know.
17:38Into that.
17:39Into your head.
17:40Yes.
17:41And the force goes through your head and breaks the bricks below.
17:44Yes, yes. After the hit.
17:46And why did you never do it again? What happened?
17:48Because after this stunt, my finger, my body tingling.
17:54When I hit the and all body tingling 30 seconds.
17:57So you always push as far as you can.
18:01Yes.
18:02But with this one.
18:03Yes.
18:04You had a sign that that's the last time.
18:06Yes, yes. Because doctor say no do again.
18:09Never again.
18:10Never again.
18:11I'm always intrigued by somebody not afraid to take risk at the highest level to pull off something that should be impossible.
18:20Before I leave, I'm excited to spend some time trading secrets.
18:25So now we hit together.
18:27One by one, full power, full confidence.
18:29Middle part and go for full power.
18:31From here.
18:32Yep.
18:33Let's go.
18:38Ready?
18:39One, two, three, go.
18:43No, it's okay.
18:44I felt something the first time in my hand.
18:47Yes, yes.
18:48So when I went here, I wasn't as confident.
18:50Ah, confident.
18:51Yes.
18:52No tension because again.
18:54Again power.
18:55Come on.
18:56Yes.
18:57Very good.
18:58Very good.
18:59Good, good, good.
19:03Good.
19:04So the glass, can you show me a piece?
19:07Yes.
19:08One piece.
19:09Yeah.
19:10This, okay.
19:11Oh, wow.
19:16Very good.
19:17Next, you teach me this act.
19:19This is very good.
19:20This is something that I never teach because it can very easily go wrong.
19:24Yes, he's very dangerous.
19:25Yeah.
19:26Yeah.
19:27Amandeep is the only person I think I've ever taught this to.
19:31Yeah.
19:32Because I don't want anybody to do it.
19:33You see?
19:34There's a very specific method that you need to follow to prevent you from ripping apart
19:40your throat or stomach.
19:41But since Amandeep is a strong man, I'm sure he'll follow the technique and not hurt himself.
19:47Now swallow.
19:48Yeah.
19:50You give me more, one more stand.
19:54I feel like a big part of the process is experimenting with your own body.
20:01You're doing things that you shouldn't do and anything can go wrong.
20:07Among the performers I've met here, there's a willingness to accept elements of pain and suffering,
20:18demonstrating the resilience of the human body.
20:22It's unlike anything I've ever seen.
20:25I have been a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who's a man who has been on the other side.
20:35On the outskirts of Delhi, I find a traveling circus where extreme acts are the main attraction.
20:41My name is Deepak Mandal.
20:43We go to the program for working the program.
20:48If someone feels like a duplicate, you can check it out.
20:55Whatever we play is real, there is no duplicate.
21:01We have created a lot of experience in many years.
21:07I have some experience with broken glass, but what he's doing is so visceral to me.
21:37I can almost feel every jump on my own body.
22:06There's a section in the Swami mantra called the blind leap that teaches you how to jump onto a pile of glass.
22:13But that's one simple jump.
22:20How can Deepak be body slammed into broken bottles over and over and still be okay?
22:57Tell him he turned me into his grandmother and tell him I loved what he's capable of.
23:05I just don't want him to hurt himself.
23:07I've never seen anything like that in my life.
23:14I've never seen anything like that.
23:21I realized Deepak is a masterful showman.
23:26And demonstrating the ability to overcome pain and suffering is at the heart of his act.
23:32Ask him if any of the audiences are ever worried for him or are they always just clapping and happy?
23:43Ah, that's crazy.
23:47This is your wife?
23:48Yes.
23:49Beautiful family.
23:52Can you ask him if his family worries about him getting injured?
23:57I can relate to Deepak.
24:09Having a daughter has changed my perspective on everything that I do.
24:13In the past, I would take great risks.
24:16Now I'm very cautious.
24:18But it's a balance because growth doesn't come without challenges.
24:23Deepak tells me there's even more to his act than what I've already seen.
24:28As nervous as that makes me, of course I'm intrigued.
24:34One, two, three.
24:38Oh, God!
24:41It's okay?
24:42You're okay?
24:43Okay, okay, okay.
24:44But it doesn't hurt.
24:45There's no blood, nothing.
24:47No, no, no.
24:52Yeah, there's nothing.
24:53Not even a bump.
24:55So, like that?
24:57Oh, man.
24:59I know many methods to break glass for a magic trick, but Deepak is doing this for real.
25:05As a magician, I want to understand how this is possible.
25:09If it's a little mistake, the bottle will just break the bottle.
25:14Oh!
25:15Oh!
25:17Jeez!
25:19The bottle doesn't leave his father.
25:21The bottle will break the bottle.
25:23The bottle will break the bottle.
25:24You're gonna do it?
25:25Wait.
25:26Wait.
25:27Oh, man.
25:28This one gets me nervous for some reason, because I know this bottle.
25:29The other one's maybe.
25:30I don't know.
25:31But this one is crazy.
25:32Oh!
25:33No!
25:34Oh!
25:35Oh!
25:36Oh!
25:37Oh!
25:38Oh!
25:39Oh!
25:40Oh!
25:41Oh!
25:42Oh!
25:43Oh!
25:44Oh!
25:45Oh!
25:46Oh!
25:47Oh!
25:48Oh!
25:49Oh!
25:50Oh!
25:51Jeez!
25:52Oh yeah!
25:53Holy man!
25:54Whoa!
25:55Whoa!
25:56Just little pieces of glass though.
26:00Like this is real glass shards right here.
26:02I mean, it's a real glass shard.
26:09Haha.
26:10Stupid trick now.
26:12hat liba his hair.
26:13Oh yeah!
26:14I know.
26:15I know.
26:16Huh...
26:17Oh!
26:18Oh!
26:19Yeah!
26:20Yeah!
26:21Yeah, I know.
26:22Oh!
26:23Oh!
26:24Oh!
26:25Oh!
26:26Oh!
26:27Oh!
26:28Oh!
26:29Oh!
26:30Oh!
26:31Oh!
26:32Oh!
26:37Oh!
26:38Deepak commits to the method because
26:40it comes from generations of knowledge passed down by his guru.
26:46Are you going to do it? My process is different. I need time to mentally prepare.
26:56Yes. He usually practices and trains for these endeavors a bit more than 24 hours. We don't
27:05have this motion dialed in yet perfectly like the way he does things normally, is my opinion.
27:10There's no need to rush this.
27:22Is she calling me? Break.
27:29And then my 12-year-old daughter interrupts with the voice of reason.
27:33I mean, now that that call came, I can't do it. That's a hard stop.
27:40Yeah, I mean, I can't do it.
27:47I thought you were kidding.
28:02But it was her. It's a hard stop. I can't.
28:12I think the technique is right. If you do it, it's fine. But I think I need time to understand it
28:18and process it before I just go do it. You're happy about that?
28:23It's dope.
28:24I'm often asked why I don't just stick to card tricks.
28:39You thought of a card?
28:40Turn your wrist over.
28:43Turn your wrist over.
28:44Turn your wrist over.
28:44But without the risk of hospitalization.
28:47One of my greatest joys as a magician is having the ability to go into any place,
28:53any neighborhood with nothing but a deck of cards and connect with people instantly.
28:59I love the reactions and I love the way it moves people. So why take the risk?
29:12As a magician, I try to give people an experience they'll hopefully remember.
29:16Something that even if they know the secret, it doesn't diminish their sense of wonder.
29:24To me, strong magic is built around story. And when done well, that story lives on.
29:41Just to the east of Delhi, I find a gathering of fakirs.
29:47This specific group are Muslim holy men of the Sufi order.
29:52Fakirs like these are among the spiritual practitioners who inspired Swami Mantra.
29:59I find them at an urs, a festival where they perform the most
30:03intense feats to prove their devotion to a higher power.
30:11The
30:16Albu Viz
30:24ha ha ha ha ha!
30:26A
30:27ha ha ha ha!
30:28Ha ha ha!
30:30Ha ha ha ha!
30:31Ha ha ha ha!
30:33Ha ha ha ha ha!
30:34There is no idea of this, without this, because we are playing a jadew.
30:38It starts with impalement, then knives, and then it gets even harder to watch, and not
31:01just for me.
31:02I know that what I'm seeing is real.
31:18I show them that I understand what they're doing.
31:26Then Atali shows me something I don't understand.
31:33I'm not sure what they're doing.
31:40I'm not sure what they're doing.
31:43I'm not sure what they're doing.
31:48I'm not sure what they're doing.
31:55I'm not sure what they're doing.
32:01I'm not sure what they're doing.
32:05When I see somebody pierce themselves straight through the middle of their neck, in the back
32:28of my mind, I know that there's no safe way to do that without risk of death.
32:35You go here, to here.
32:43No hole, there's nothing.
32:46Let me see here, back here.
32:48No?
32:49No.
32:58That's an incredible magic, I mean, that's amazing.
33:01Somebody actually did magic to me.
33:05The world is beautiful, and the government is a great way to make it.
33:10I don't know how to get to the video, but I can't understand what you're doing.
33:15Seeing you do this, it's something I've never seen before.
33:20The Fakir seemed to be motivated by their faith to do these unbelievable acts.
33:36Obviously they would never refer to what they were doing as magic, but when I watched them
33:43I realized it was an incredible performance from beginning till end.
33:47They were doing things that were very believable because you knew that they were really popping
33:51their eyes out of their head, they were really stabbing themselves with skewers, but when
33:56he suddenly pushed it through his neck, as skeptical as I am, I couldn't explain it.
34:17I found this group popping their eyeballs out with swords.
34:23One of the guys fooled me when he pushed the thing through his neck.
34:26Yeah.
34:27See that?
34:28But it looks convincing.
34:30It looks incredible.
34:31Have you seen anything like that before?
34:33No, but do you think they're doing magic or do you think they just really do it because
34:36of their faith or what do you think that is?
34:39I think it might just be a bit of both, a little bit remains unexplained and I think
34:43that's the best part about magic for you and I, I think that mystery of where we don't
34:47know if it's real or not.
34:48It was really interesting to see all of these performers combining magic with things that
34:53are violently real to make you believe in what they're doing.
34:57The trick in itself is brilliant.
34:59This won't exist anywhere else in the world.
35:01This won't exist anywhere.
35:02It's only in India.
35:03It's only in India.
35:04Yeah, that's true.
35:12The acts I found in India surpassed anything that I've read about in Swami Mantra.
35:24These performers have to override their fear and fully commit to what they're doing.
35:30And the bottle is exactly that.
35:39That's the one that I keep thinking about.
35:41That's the one that I keep wanting to do.
35:44That's the one that I, I can't get it out of my head that I didn't do it.
35:53I'm excited to meet Deepak again.
35:55Deepak!
35:56Deepak!
35:57Deepak!
35:58Deepak!
35:59Deepak!
36:00Deepak!
36:01Deepak!
36:02I'm going to show you something that I've been working on.
36:05This is with a thread.
36:13I've been doing this act from Swami Mantra the same way for almost 30 years,
36:18but my time in India has inspired a new version.
36:43It's ironic that of everything I've done, this one intimidates me the most.
37:13It's such an unknown variable to just commit 100% to crack your head with a bottle.
37:29It's more than just breaking a bottle.
37:32It's the idea of fully committing to doing something unknown that I've never done before
37:37and trusting the process.
37:43And I know that if I don't do this now,
37:48I probably never will.
37:58Oh !
38:04Here, let me see it.
38:06Let me see it, please.
38:08Let me see it.
38:13Tell them we're blood brothers, then.
38:17Damn it, I knew I didn't commit hard enough.
38:19No, you did commit.
38:20No, I didn't.
38:21No, I think what you did is this.
38:22Let's look at the slow motion.
38:23Ready?
38:27Oh ! I did commit.
38:29It turns out my commitment wasn't the problem.
38:32I just didn't have the motion perfected.
38:42That is a cool little scar.
38:48Next, you have to show me how to get thrown into a pile of glass.
38:51No, no, no, no.
38:52Next time I see you again.
38:54I came to India looking for things that were real, that I didn't believe were possible.
38:58And when you did this, I didn't understand it at all.
39:03But it will help me with what I do in many ways.
39:10Whenever I go out and I push myself to do something that I know is going to be treacherous and difficult, I always end up finding beauty on the other side.
39:17Thank you, Deepak.
39:19Yeah.
39:21That's a beautiful statement.
39:24That's a beautiful statement.
39:27I always end up finding beauty on the other side.
39:30Thank you, Deepak.
39:32Yeah.
39:46That's a beautiful statement.