Disney’s recently released superhero Zokkomon has yielded a lukewarm response and Anurag Kashyap’s mega budget spectacle Doga (Based on Nagraj comics) and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Talisman (India’s answer to Lord of the Rings) have already been shelved. The 30-second- teaser of Shahrukh Khan’s most ambitious project Ra One leaves you in a state of déjà vu with its eerie resemblance to Endhiran (The Robot) ...and Krrish and Matrix. Yet it seems that Indian market is suddenly being invaded by a legion of superheroes and not all are spandex-clad B-grade versions of Superman. Even if Toonpur ka Superhero’s super powers did not work too well in Bollywood, spoofs of superheroes like the Tamil vegetarian cowboy Quick Gun Murugun won the audience’s heart with his over-the-top histrionics. Endhiran-The Robot wowed the audience with its superlative special effects and after its stupendous success, Rajnikanth has already started working on his next animated superhero avatar Rana. Saif Ali Khan is almost ready with his superhero venture-Agent Vinod. Salman Khan, a self-proclaimed non-believer in the genre, has also fallen prey to the latest craze and signed a superhero movie -and that too in 3D! Another movie to watch out for would be Prince Vaali-arguably the costliest film under production in the new superhero/sci-fi genre.
It is no denying the fact that Krrish (touted as the first Indian superhero movie) started the trend of mega budget superhero movies; but it is indeed Mr India that till date remains a cult favourite. Unlike RaOne, Mr India didn’t have the luxury to don a 1-crore suit; dressed in a simple jacket over a simple shirt and trouser, and a cricket hat, this common man became the most loved superhero of the country. Another unusual superhero duo is Satyajit Ray’s immortal characters (based on Upendra Kishore Roychowdhury’s book)-Goopi Gayen and Bagha Bayen.
However, as far as apna Bollywood is concerned it was the asli angry young man Amitabh Bachchan who had donned the cape and the spandex way back in the 80s when he subjected the audience to not one but three B-grade superhero movies-Ajooba, Toofan and Jaadugar (some might even prefer Drona over these...or maybe not!) along with a comic book avatar Supremo- a superman-like alter ego of Amitabh Bachchan clad in pink latex body suit and a lungi wrapped over it. This rather popular comic series had Gulzar as the script consultant! And Big B was not the only one to have a comic book superhero version! Sunil Gavaskar also battled cricketers from Bandookstan and England on the field and, between games, took on evil magicians in Sunny the Super sleuth.
Right from the half-forgotten to the super-hit Nagraj (each Nagraj comic used to print at least 3 lakh copies in the 90s) and Chacha Chudhary and his friend from Jupiter-Sabu, there was never a dearth of comic book superheroes. But, most of the comics were in Hindi and was hence not accessible to a large portion of Indian population. Even Doordarshan had its own superheroes in the form of the droolicious Captain Vyom and the ‘Indian Superman trained in Kundalini yoga’ Shaktiman (which apparently had children falling of buildings/ busses/ beds trying to imitate ‘the spin’). However, as India opened its windows to the virtual world, and terraces to dish antennas, most of these superheroes died a slow and painful death.
Meanwhile, in the West, superheroes inspired by Indian mythological characters or with an Indian ancestry began to crop up. However, most of these were no better than ‘American superheroes’ created in India barring the likes of Chandi Gupta, better known as "Maya,” of Justice League and Neal Shara aka Thunderbird in X-men.
In 2006 Virgin Group’s Sir Richard Branson, author Deepak Chopra, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and Gotham Entertainment Group collaborated and formed Virgin Comics LLC(which became Liquid Comics in 2008) with the aim to create content based on Indian mythology and reach a global audience as well as start a creative renaissance in India. Virgin Comics gave the much needed push to revive Indian comic industry and came up with three superheroes: Devi, The Sadhu and Snake Woman.
With the comic industry getting a complete makeover, the superhero culture slowly started rising from its ashes in India. While old players like Raj comic tied up with Planet41 to deliver animated films starring Nagraj, Dhruv and Doga to 3G handsets and started contemporising the content(with Nagraj battling 26/11 terrorists), and new superheroes are also making their presence felt. And these new breed of superheroes are as different form each other as chalk and cheese. While Saurav Mohapatra’s Jimmy Zhinchak is “a spoof and homage to the Disco zeitgeist in 80's Bollywood (which made Mithun da + Bhappi Lahiri "world phemos" in India),” Rimi B Chatterjee’s (yet to be pulished) Kalpa: Shadowfalls has an unusual super hero who can inhabit the memory traces of the dead. But, Chatterjee is reluctant to call Kalpa a superhero: “I don't think Kalpa qualifies as a superhero. She doesn't have a costume or a secret identity”.
Level 10 comics’ Shaurya is a superhero story based on the Mumbai train blast. “Currently in its 7th issue, Shaurya is a team of five “gifted” teenagers from across India. We wanted to truly capture what it lifestyle of today’s college going crowd,” explains Suhas Sundar, the creative head of Level10comics. The publishing house is also working on San anti-hero title and their dark hero is set for an August re-debut.
The recent Comic Con India saw the launch of - Uud Bilaw Manus (Uud Bilaw Manus: Back with a Vengeance) aka UbiMa. The half-otter, half human superhero is the protector of the city of ‘Beehar’. With characters like Kitty, Kala Kutta, Bhade ke tattuu, Kung Fu Girgit , Kan Khajura and the language a hilarious mishmash of English, Hindi, Bhojpuri, UbiMa promises to take you on a laughter riot. According to Adhiraj Singh, the creator of the character, “This is a spoof on the superheroes and draws its inspiration from the quintessential action movies of the 80s.”
Jatin Varma, the director of Twenty Onwards Media, theUbiMa’s publisher has high expectations from the otterman: “I do see a long term investment in UbiMa, with more volumes of the comic series and maybe animated shorts in the future.”
However, he lives in no Utopian world and is quick to add: “Building a superhero character takes a very long time and huge investments. It is not something that can be done overnight with just a few volumes. The superheroes that are brand names have been around since our great-grandparents times.” Suhas points towards the lack of adaptations across different media and platforms as one of the main reasons behind the lack of a superhero brand in India. But, according to Mohapatra there is still a lack of original ideas. Not all have managed to come out of the western mould: “Frankly, you can't take Batman and make him wear a “mukut” and make him an "Indian" superhero.”
However, Shamik Dasgupta of Ramayana 3392 AD fame is optimistic: “The appeal of superheroes has been steadily growing from the last decade; all we need is a well done superhero befitting the modern youth of India.”
Though there is no doubt that the new breed of superhero breeders are increasingly concentrating on original content, a parallel trend of taking up characters and theme from Indian mythologies is also emerging. Adhiraj explains this phenomenon: “Indian mythology already has a rich bank of archetypes and themes to draw from. It takes less of a 'leap' from a reader (or a writer for that matter) for that story.” But, what is heartening to see is that the comics writers are becoming increasingly experimental with these age-old stories and giving them their own spin. Apart from the most common preys like Hanuman, Ganesh, Krishna, Raam, the superhero-hunters are looking out for unsuspecting victims in the half-yellow pages of Indian mythologies. Shamik’s Daksh- a story of a Gothic superhero inspired from the epic poem Meghadutam by Kalidasa. “I wanted Daksh to be dark and scary- a complete badass. He is the son of Yama and the gatekeeper of hell. Because of his negligence a hundred sinners escape from hell and as a punishment he is sent to earth to bring back all the escapees (and the hit-list includes the likes of General Hideki Tojo, Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Elizabeth Bathory, Idi Amin, Ghengis Khan, Caligula!),” explains Shamik.
Another interesting project in this genre is Vimanica comics’s The Sixth-Karan Vir (KV), the protagonist of the series is the reincarnation of Mahabharat’s Karna. He is a businessman who meets Ved Vyas, the author f the epic, and learns about the tumultuous life of the sixth son of Kunti. “As KV delves deep into the legend of Karna, he acquires certain super powers and as Ved Vyas finishes his narration, KV turns into a true superhero,” explains Karan Vir Arora, Ceo/founder, Vimanika comics. “Through this series we are not only telling a story of a superhero but also presenting an authentic, much-researched piece of history in a much entertaining way,” says Karan. The series also sees the first Sardar superhero Dev Daljit Singh who is KV’s side-kick.
Well, be it educative, gothic, serious, dark, funny- it seems this new generation of superheroes are finally breaking the shackles of the stereotypical underwear-on-leotard mould (and becoming hip if not anything else!). But, as the Indian superhero industry flexes its muscle to take on the likes of Superman, Batman and Sandman, let’s not forget that the baap of all super heroes is an unassuming Indian and he lives in no comic book but in Chennai, and Grady Hendrix of Slate magazine introduces him as: “A force of nature. If a tiger had sex with a tornado and then their tiger-nado baby got married to an earthquake, their offspring would be something like this.” Indeed he is talking about our very own Rajinikanth. He can kill the Spiderman with mere bug spray. Yanna rascal, Mind it!
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