The stage glows in the dark auditorium as mentalist Nicolai Friedrich asks for a ten-rupee note from the audience. Once he has a volunteer, he asks the man to sign the tenner and holds it up for all to see as he folds it into a tiny square. With a broad smile, he asks the audience what denomination they would like to see it converted to. The public goes for the highest – a two-thousand rupee note. Friedrich waves the folded square in the air and then begins unfolding it to reveal a violet currency note. When the deafening applause dies down, he invites the volunteer onstage and asks him to open a sealed peanut can and pour its contents into a glass. At the base of the now empty can is the man’s signed, folded ten-rupee note.
Two minutes into German mentalist-magician Nicolai Friedrich’s show and even the dyed-in-the-wool skeptics are left with plummeting jaws. For not only can he make a table float and tear a newspaper to shreds only to make it whole again with a flick of his hand, he can also read your mind and guess your birthday and the identity of the person whose photo is in your wallet by just looking at you.
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