Magic is close, and 'reality' is out there for filmmaker Anand Gandhi

New Delhi, Nov 1 When he dropped out of school early, he was convinced that he wanted to be a magician. He even wanted to be a philosopher and a scientist. Cinema has allowed filmmaker Anand Gandhi to stay close to all his childhood dreams.

Believing magic and cinema are cognitive gyms as both achieve wonder by simulating experiences that are greater than the sum of their parts whether by pulling a rabbit out of a hat or by telling a story of siblings separated at birth...

"We are seduced into studying the parts and interactions that this new whole emerged from. We are compelled to understand the cogs and gears behind the collapse of a marriage in a story or the engineering behind a bullet catch by a magician. Improbable phenomena witnessed firsthand challenge our notions of reality. Wonder then becomes an invitation to engage with paradoxes. The path of wonder may not always lead to answers, but often broadens our consciousness. That is the overlapping function of magic and cinema," he tells .

The filmmaker and co-writer of 'Ship of Theseus'