Magic Touch

This is the story of how I ended up in an elevator dressed as Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister. I’ll also introduce you to a surprising high-ranking official in New Zealand: the government’s official wizard. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Today's stories about matter, acting, wizards, and dressing for the
job you want. It's also about me your host a
pump Care, but mostly it's about making you smile. Welcome
to a pump Cares Chapter nine, Magic Touch. Back in

(00:35):
I was struggling. I was so thin that I could
see through a keyhole with both my eyes. I was
starting to lose my hair, and I wasn't getting enough work.
But then I got some exciting news. Dolly Taco, the actress,
the casting director the journalists, called to tell me she

(00:56):
was casting a new project, not just any projec checked.
She was casting Richard Attenborough's film Gandhi. At the time,
everyone was buzzing about the film. The legendary Richard Attenborough
was paying tribute to Gandhi's incredible life story, and the
production was rumored to be exceptionally elaborate. It was going

(01:17):
to be short on location in India, but perhaps most
exciting of all, the cast, with the exception of Candice Bergen's,
was to be Indian and all the big names were auditioning.
As you can imagine, I was over the moon when
Dolly called and said, Richard Attenborough is looking for actors,
and I have suggested your name on come. My heart

(01:39):
skipped a bait. Being a little presumptuous and maybe a
little optimistic, I said for Gandhizi's role. He laughed, but
I figured why not. I was thin enough and with
enough time I would be bald enough to play the
great leader. She said, no, no, no, no no, he's
already cast when Gandhi. But I think you will be

(02:02):
an excellent Nhru. All I heard was you will be narrow.
I couldn't help but break into a smile. For those
of you who do not know the story behind the
Indian independence movement, when the Javala Naru was India's first
prime minister, it is also KASHMIRI, just like me. And

(02:27):
when I heard her say you will be a good Nehru,
I stopped thinking about auditioning my mind fast forward to
the Academy Awards. In my head, cameras were flashing, people
were cheering, and I I was stepping on stage to
accept my Oscar for Best Actor and a Supporting Role.

(02:56):
But as Dolly continued to talk, I came back down
to us and I realized the role wasn't mine yet.
I would have to wow Richard Atton marine in person.
Back then I was more into method acting, So to
prepare for the role, I began with Nehru's look. At

(03:17):
that time, I had appeared and a mustache, so I
shaved those off. I started wearing a jacket in the
Neru style and even pinning a rose to the lapel
in his trademark manner, and of course I completed the
vision with a crisp white Gandhi Toby. I also studied
Neru's walk. I perfected his looping stroll and the way

(03:41):
he positioned his hands behind him and he moved. And
I worked on his speech patterns, deconstructing his accent and
listening for the little once is in his voice. There's
a famous speech ner who gave after Gandhi Jesus asassination.
It went something like this, m the light has gone
out of her lives and there is darkness everywhere. I

(04:05):
do not know what to tell you and how to
see it. But our beloved leader, Babu as we called him,
the father of the nation, is no more. Oh my,
it's a famous speech, but it's been years since I
practiced that. As I continued to rehearse, my daydreams became

(04:27):
more elaborate. I started to debate what exactly I would
wear to the Academy Awards and who would be presenting
my oscar. Maybe DeNiro would hand it to me our brando.
Oh no, no, Meryl Streep. Thank you, Meryl, this is
an honor. Yes. Oh goodness, Oh you're too kind. Yes,

(04:50):
of course, I'm also a big fan of yours. Thank you, Maryel.
I'll see you after the words at the party. Life
went on like that for a week or so. Then
Dolly called me again. She said, Richard Attenbury staying at
the Shoka Hotel in Delhi, and I've set up a meeting.
Why don't you come and meet him? This was it.

(05:11):
All of my preparations was about to pay off. I
called my best friend Widgers Eagle, and we took the
bus over to the Showka Hotel. There's a saying dress
for the job you want. Well. When I stepped onto
the bus, everyone was a little surprised to be sitting
near the coop dressed up like Naru. But that's the

(05:32):
job I wanted. Little did I know I would get
that reaction a lot that day. When Viggie and I
reached the hotel lobby, we were greeted by Dolly and
an American gentleman, another casting director. They were a little
confused by my costume too. They didn't see anything, but

(05:53):
I could tell from the expression on their faces. We
stood there staring at each other until Dolly broke the silence.
She said, Richard returned eyes on the fifth floor. Let's
go and meet him. We started walking in the direction,
but before I stepped on the elevator, which pulled me aside,
took me by the shoulders and said, okay, we two,

(06:17):
they don't this is your moment, grab it. Good luck. Yeah, Oscar,
I knew which was right. This is what I had
been practicing for. On the ride up, I started running
through the narrow speech in my mind. The light is

(06:38):
conduct to life. There is darkness everywhere. The light has
gone out of our life. As I said the lines
to myself over and over, I glanced at Dolly, and
I looked at the American who was staring very intently
at the left operator. The light is goneuct to life.
There is darkness everywhere. The light has gone out of
our lives, and there is darkness everywhere. The elevator door

(07:00):
was opened and Richard returned bore I was standing before me,
but our introduction wasn't how I had pictured it. Richard
had his hand on some man's shoulder, and as the
elevator doors dinged open, I heard him say, I am
so happy to meet you Russian. I finally got my Narrow.

(07:25):
I looked at Dolly, who was shocked. I tried to
catch the American's eye, but he was still looking at
the lift operator. As we walked into the suite. I
tried to rationalize what was happening. I thought there must
be some confusion. Maybe Richard Attenburgh's tongue slipped. Maybe he
accidentally said nero because he saw me dressed as Narrow.

(07:47):
Then Richard turned to me and the casting director and spoke,
um this actor for what role? But before anyone could answer,
I said, I'm Naru. I'm punted too all a Neru.
He said, sorry, young Chap, I've already find lized somebody
else for that role. I said, He said, Rossian state.
I said, how can you find life somebody as for

(08:08):
that rout? Have you seen my audition? Have you seen
me perform as Neru? This is very unprofessional of you.
You're a British art you should not be talking like this.
You must see me perform. You must see my screenterest
You must see my long speech of Neru that I
have prepared for the last one month. Can you see
I look like he said, okay, performed Neru. In everyone's life,

(08:29):
there are moments when you rise to a challenge and
moments when you can't. The second, he said, performed ner
I completely lost my confidence. I was thrown off by
the circumstances. I had prepared that speech. I knew it
backwards and forwards. Poor video had watched me perform it

(08:51):
a million times. Even he must have had it memorized.
But my my audition was a disaster. I I couldn't
speak more than one line. The light light this light
no no, no, no no way, Sorry, sorry, there is a
darkness that there is the where After I fumbled through

(09:13):
the first lines of Nehru's speech, I could feel the
acade me about sleeping from my fingers, and I said,
m okay, forget give me another role. Richard was silent.
He avoided my gaze and looked up at the ceiling. Desperate,
I said, please give me another role, but give me

(09:34):
a rule of a person who participated in India's freedom struggle,
please Richard. Richard looked at his file and said, okay.
Abdul Kahan was a pushtoon leader, a brave man known
as Frontier Gandhi. For a minute, I was so happy.
I said thank you, Richard, thank you. And then the

(09:56):
American casting director said, sorry, Richard, I I've already got
somebody else for that role. Richard turned and asked him,
really who? He said, that elevator operator is taller and
better fit for the role. I felt like the wind
was knocked out of me. A professional elevator operator that

(10:17):
beat me for the role. Richard put his hand on
my shoulder, the same gesture I saw him use when
he cast the other man as Narrow, but this time
he said, sorry, young Chap. I tried the casting is done.
I tried to maintain my composure. I said it's it's okay.

(10:41):
It happens, and I turned away, dressed as narrow, but
walking away as an open care with slow, defeated strides.

(11:02):
Many months later, once again, Dolly called up and said,
you see a no palm. We are doing the dubbing
of Ghanti in Hindy. There's one line you will get
three thousand rupees, will you do it? I was so desperate,
I was so down and out. I spent so much

(11:23):
time on the streets of Mumbai that I would do anything.
And next morning, at eight o'clock, I was standing in
the long queue outside br Dubbing theater to do that
one line. This is that one line corporation. In the end,

(11:48):
I landed the second role Dolly offered me. I have
one dubbed line in in the version of Gandhi. It
was not the award winning role I was hoping for,
but I was grateful for the work the same. I
got three thousand piece for that. An actor's life is
filled with ups and downs. You build yourself for a role.

(12:12):
You put all your passion and energy into lending it.
There is disappointment when it doesn't come your way, but
you have to keep leaving in yourself and pushing forward.
And while wearing the narrow costume to the audition didn't
work for me in that instance, let me tell you
about someone who dressed for the job they wanted and

(12:33):
actually landed it and much much more. For this section,
let's take a trip to christ Church, New Zealand. New
Zealand is a beautiful country with a magical landscape. It
has jagged mountains deep blue waters. But what you may

(12:57):
not know is that it's the world's only country with
the government appointed wizard. Yes, a wizard. The Wizard of
New Zealand has been enchanting crowds in christ Church for decades.
He looks probably exactly how you imagine him. He has

(13:19):
a long, whispy beard, a flowing robe and an array
of silly pointy hats. For more than forty years he
has been setting up in Cathedral Square and from the
perch of his step ladder, he waves his hands and
cast spells Cocus focused shoe. It may surprise you to

(13:46):
hear that the Wizard of New Zealand wasn't born with
a magical gift. His name is Ian Breckenbury Channel, and
for years Ian served as a navigator in the Royal
Force in Britain. In the nineteen sixties, he moved to
Australia and worked as a psychologist and teacher. And that's

(14:08):
when things started to get a little wacky. As the
Vietnam War loomed and protests escalated, Channel wanted to bring
smiles to people, so he began dressing up as a
wizard and wandering the streets, hoping that his spectacle would
provide a little comic relief in an otherwise stressful time.

(14:34):
The wizard is unbelievable and not many people understand. Yeah,
he's really good, focus focused. His wizardry was going so
well that in the early nineties seventies, Channel decided to

(14:55):
expand his wizarding territory and moved to New Zealand. At
the time, people were banned from speaking cathedral church cathedrals.
Channel decided the Channel Cathedral was exactly want he wanted
to set up. But Channel decided in his wizard in uniform,
he began ranting and raving, casting spells in the center

(15:18):
of cathedral Square. The local government was horrified and tried
everything to stop. They even brought him to court, but
when the courts banned him from the square, the public
backlash was extreme. The people of christ Church loved their
wizard and it wasn't long before the government buckled under
the public pressure. But Channel didn't just cast spells. He

(15:43):
also orchestrated little shenanigans to lift people's spirits. He started
driving a Folkswagen Beetle round town that he called the
Wizard Mobile. It was equipped with two front ends, so
you could never tell if the Wizard was coming or going.
One day, he built a giant nest on the eleventh

(16:04):
story of a nearby library and hatched from a giant
egg to everyone's delight. He also began selling upside down
maps depicting New Zealand on the top of the world.
On another occasion, he blessed a local rugby team from
the year chanting spells wild skydiving. By Government of New

(16:30):
Zealand had changed its tune and embraced in. The Prime
Minister appointed Channel the official Wizard of New Zealand, with
the duty to amazing, amusing, and for a select few
annoying the people of the country. He even received a
government stipend for his position. In two thousand nine, he

(16:50):
was awarded the Queen's Service Medal, one of the country's
highest honors, and today his official New Zealand passport just
reads the Wizard. So he dressed the part and landed
the role as an official Wizard. And even though his

(17:13):
story and mine had different outcomes, at the core the
message is the same. No matter how outrageous your dreams,
you have to put on your armor and fight for them.
It's like Henry Ford said, whether you think you can
or you can't, you're right. That's it for today's episode.

(17:39):
I'm an Open Care. Be kind to yourself and thank
you for listening. No Problem Cares is a production of
I Heart Read. I'm Your Host An Open Care. Our

(18:02):
executive producer Is Mangis, Senior producer Julian Weller, Associate producer
Morgan LaVoi. Sound design and mixing by Julian Weller and
Dan Bauza. Music by Aaron Kaufman. Production support from Emily
Maronoff and Married Du Writing by Lucas Riley, Matt Riddle,

(18:25):
Margoon Lavoy and Julian Weller. Lucas Riley and Matt Riddle
are our story editors, thanks to Seekin Paru, Hermandy Suza,
guadwy Amana, Sdium Studios, Donald Burn and pop It. Do
you think was this the bone that was not very

(18:46):
unusual child cony at the time, Rather