‘Faulad’ is a Surti’s answer to Superman

Though thousands of comics are read by kids across the world, Gujarat is hardly in the picture when it comes to writing, scripting and conceptualising these books or their characters.

However, Fenil Sheildiwala has bucked this trend and has published four comics so far.

A scriptwriter, Sheildiwala owns a garment showroom on Ring Road and has been working on the script of his comics for the past two years. A diehard lover of comics and an ardent fan of Pran and Anupam Sinha’s Super Commando Dhruv, Sheildiwala realised a dream when he launched his first comic character, Faulad recently. This was first of a three-part comic series. He is working on two other series.

“I have been addicted to comics since I was 13-year-old. Five years back, I decided to write for comics and came up with Faulad’s script. However, we had to make some necessary changes in it to suit today’s needs,” said Sheildiwala.

As Surat (for that matter, the entire state) doesn’t have many professionals in the field of comics, Sheildiwala had to seek the help of professionals from outside the state —Mumbai, Lucknow and Delhi. This led to delay in the launch of his first comics, Faulad.

To prepare the model of Crime Fighter, Sheildiwala had to seek the help of an artist friend from Brazil named Luga Lopez.

Apart from Faulad, Sheildiwala has created fiver other characters— Crime Fighter, Stunt Girl, Jasus Balram, Secret Agent Om and Bajrangi.

Except Jasus Balram, all his characters fight evil with the help of traditional and modern tools.

“I love Anupam Sinha’s creation Super Commando Dhruv. That is the reason why I decided to create a comic character that had a mix of both —strength and intelligence. Faulad somewhat resembles Super Commando Dhruv as he fights evil and criminals with high-tech tools,” said Sheildiwala.