The revenge of the Indian comic book superheroes

These books that kept generations enthralled may be receding from public memory, but with the movie versions of Nagraj and Doga and the publishing of the Roadside Romeo comics, they hope to change the tide, writes Lhendup Bhutia

As the bell rings and the teacher hurriedly makes her way out, the classroom erupts. The 10 and 11-year-olds are ecstatic. It is lunch time and they have approximately an hour's break. Lunch is quickly dealt with and they huddle into a large group; the ones at the back straining their necks to catch a glimpse of the action at the centre. In the middle sits a child, not more than 10 with a smirk beyond his age. In his hands is Apple's latest iPhone.  

A few years ago things were much different. The object of such admiration and contempt in classrooms across the country was no iPhone or gadget but the good ol' comic book. Whether 'the ghost who walks' (Phantom) or superhero Nagraj, Chacha Chaudhary with 'a brain sharper than a needle and faster than a super-computer' or the giant Sabu, whose anger was enough to make a volcano in Jupiter erupt — Indian comic book houses kept children through the years enthralled. But now almost a generation seems to have grown up on PSPs and the internet, having never heard of the old and witty Chacha or the mighty Phantom. However, after all these years, their tales now seem poised to be told again. These comic book houses are coming up with a slew of initiatives to hook the Indian kid. If Diamond Comics is publishing comic book versions of big movies like Roadside Romeo, then the hub for Indian superhero comic books, Raj Comics has its characters like Nagraj and Doga being adapted into movies. Diamond Comics is also developing a new channel of its own (scheduled to go on air next year), where it will have shows based on its characters, and even Tinkle is distributing DVDs and CD ROMs on its characters. Mobile games on many of these characters like Bankyelal are already available, while many others are in the pipeline.

Meherbanoo Irani who has been teaching school children for 14 years recounts how she as a child used to count off days to make her weekly visit to the neighbourhood bus stop where she could get her hands on secondhand comic books. "Now, when I turn my back to the classroom, it is not the comic book that is exchanging hands on the sly, but the latest computer games," she says. "No one reads them anymore."  When satellite television hit India in the 1990s, what Gulshan Rai, founder of Diamond Comics refers to as "the dark ages of the comic industry" began. Sales of comic books nosedived.
"And when the internet arrived," Rai continued, "I thought we were done for". Diamond Comics' most popular character Chacha Chowdhury once sold close to four and a half lakh copies a month, with a total sale of about seven lakh copies a month for all its comic books. Now the total sales for all its comic books for a month is about 3.5 lakh. Even Raj Comics has undergone a similar fate. "We sometimes reported sales of about seven lakh copies a month," says Sanjay Gupta, the editor/creative head of Raj Comics. "Now, we don't sell more than three to four lakhs".

Children, especially in large cities rarely read them. Nitin Daruka, a 25-year-old found that out when he reached Mumbai. Admitting that he still reads them, a trifle embarrassed, he says, "As a young student in Ajmer, I practically lived on them but when I started living in Mumbai to complete my studies I found that hardly anyone reads them. Rakshit Rajesh, an 11-year-old is one of the few students in his class who reads comic books. But it is foreign comic books like Marvel and DC Comics that he reads.
Ask him about any other comic book apart from Tinkle and he draws a blank.

But these comic book characters are now all set to reclaim lost territory. After having distributed the comic versions of the movie The Hanuman and the TV show Arsalaan, Rai thinks that with the publishing of the comics of Yash Raj's and Walt Disney's Roadside Romeo, Diamond Comics will now become a bigger brand. Arguably, India's most famous comic superhero is also all set to debut on the silver screen. Raj Comics' Nagraj, whose blood contains tiny snakes instead of White Blood Cells and who breathes venom into enemies' respiratory systems and makes a parachute out of snakes when jumping out of a plane, is being adapted into an animated movie by the US based Motion Pixel Corporation. Also, the rights of another popular superhero from Raj Comics, the dog-masked Doga has been bought by filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. Samir Patil, the CEO of ACK Media that runs the ever popular Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle says, "The consumer is now surrounded 24/7 by the internet, the TV and the cellphone. If we are to make an impression, then it is only by using these media. The comic industry cannot survive only in its publishing capacity". Apart from DVDs of its comic books, ACK Media also offers free ecomics on its website.

While many big comics like Tulsi Comics and Manoj Comics have bitten the dust in 'the dark ages', those that survived have been lucky to do so. "We have made it through that period and now we shall regain our readership," says Rai. The 59-year-old  declares, "We may not be able to ensure that every schoolbag carries our comic books, but what we shall ensure is that children run home to watch our characters on TV or play them on the computer or the cellphone."
b_lhendup@dnaindia.net