14 Books MARCH 20, 2011 SUNDAY MORNING POST

Indian comic books have a long tradition but

only recently have they started tackling more
mature themes, writes Charukesi Ramadurai

Sketches of
the past
A
few years ago, an unlikely who with girlfriend Bela and dog vanquished entire armies
goddess was added to Chamiya, struck terror into the singlehandedly.
India’s already hearts of the baddies. With the 1980s came
overpopulated And during the next decade, fresh characters from
pantheon. Going by entire generations of comic fans new publications.
the name of Savita Bhabhi (meaning struck gold when, in 1967, India Chacha Chaudhary
sister-in-law), she gave a new twist Book House editor Anant Pai (Diamond comics)
to the term comic strip: she was created the Amar Chitra Katha and Detective
India’s first pornographic cartoon comics. Literally translated as Moochwala (Target magazine)
character. “immortal picture stories”, these were instant hits. They solved
A 29-year-old housewife, Bhabhi comic books featured stories based problems not with extraordinary
had a dedicated website and mainly on Indian mythology. The powers but with their wits and
thousands of dedicated followers. hero was always noble and valiant, cunning. Chacha Chaudhary’s brain
But just a year after its launch in good always triumphed over evil, was said to be “faster than a
mid-2009, the government, in a fit of and the difference between the two computer” – but we snippets on science and world such as Mother Teresa
moral policing, banned the site and was sharp and unambiguous. But all know the speed of computers in cultures. By then, Anant Pai had (humanitarian), Kalpana Chawla
Savita’s sexual shenanigans were no who cared? The Amar Chitra Katha the 1980s. come to be called Uncle Pai, and (astronaut) and J.R.D. Tata
longer available for free viewing. comics were packaged in an Pai also introduced the classic regularly received letters from young (industrialist).
Around that time, another appealing manner, interspersed Tinkle with stories based on folk readers. Tinkle characters such as After the lull, a renaissance has
powerful woman appeared on the with small bite-sized morals, and tales from India and faraway lands. Shikhari Shambu, stupid Suppandi, been seen in the past few years with
scene – but this time offline. Devi, were easy for kids to digest. The Each issue also carried contests and Tantri the Mantri and Kalia the Crow new publishing companies
created by filmmaker Shekhar themes expanded to include all live in the collective memories of appearing on the scene. In 2006,
Kapur (Elizabeth, Bandit Queen), modern history – the lives of Indians of a certain generation. After Virgin Comics came to India with
was a sassy heroine from Virgin freedom fighters, for instance, and It is clear there is no Pai died from a heart attack on sleek offerings which combined the
Comics with flashing eyes and a popular legends. February 24, a wave of nostalgia storylines of Amar Chitra Katha and
luminous bodysuit. And then there For a long time, Indian comics lack of enthusiasm spread over blogs and newspapers the graphic stylings of Avatar. The
was Sachin Tendulkar, the cricket
star who was reinvented in a series
were all about larger-than-life
heroes and their exploits.
among readers of carried a range of tributes to the
creator of the nation’s original
company was shut down in 2008,
but has been relaunched as Liquid
called Master Blaster which proved
that a short, stocky frame meant
Superheroes (of the Indrajal variety)
regularly pulled off six impossible
comic books. I could cartoon network.
After the success of Pai’s Tinkle,
Comics. Ramayan, set in AD3392, is
one of Liquid’s best sellers, while
nothing to a superhero. Mock him, things before breakfast. And in sense genuine comic books also started appearing Vimanika is another company that
and he vaporises you with a flaming Indian mythology, gods have in regional Indian languages, offers comic books based on Indian
cricket bat. superpowers. Some goddesses too, excitement featuring local characters. But the mythology.
What a great distance India’s for many Indians believe in the ...................................................... strips remained exclusively for In the past few years, the industry
comic book industry has come. It’s equality of women where it is least Samit Basu, author of Devi, on India’s children, with simple humour has started to target adult readers
been a long, colourful journey relevant. They carried mountains on first comics convention, held in instead of clever wordplay. There with complex narratives and non-
involving Western imports doing their hands, flew in the air and New Delhi last month was none of the sophistication of linear presentations. Protagonists
battle with heroes from the nation’s say, Asterix, or the cynicism of have also begun to show shades of
extensive mythology, and an Calvin and Hobbes. grey; between the divine and the
appraisal of the evolution of the art The arrival of satellite television diabolical, there is Devi. As Karan Vir
form has been under way since the brought an end to the glory days of Arora, chief executive of Vimanika,
death of Indian comic book pioneer comic books on the subcontinent says: “Our comics bring out both the
Anant Pai last month. with its wide variety of cartoon rough side – the anger and
India’s earliest comic strip heroes shows. Comic book publishing aggression of some of the gods in
were imports from the West. In the houses found it difficult to survive in our mythology – and the soft side of
mid-1950s, publishing group a market where children’s reading our ancient history. This shows our
Bennett, Coleman & Co launched habits were already in decline. culture, our values and our dharma
Indrajal comics, bringing to India Indrajal was the first to go in 1990. [code of conduct].”
characters such as Phantom (“the Shaktimaan was reduced to Comics are also now looking
ghost who walks”), Flash Gordon endorsing biscuits on television, beyond the successful staples of
(“he’ll save every one of us”), and something of a comedown for Indian mythology. Campfire, which
Mandrake (the magician who India’s Superman. But somehow, has been coming out with a series of
“gestures hypnotically”). Indrajal Amar Chitra Katha adapted and graphic novels since 2008, publishes
also later introduced home-grown survived by adding more stories derived not just from Indian
hero Bahadur (meaning “brave”) Anant Pai, pioneer of many popular comic books, who died on February 24 contemporary themes and heroes and Western mythology but also
SUNDAY MORNING POST MARCH 20, 2011
Books15

Grassroots focus for

indie documentaries
Two pages from
Tall Tales of Vishnu
Sharma and the cover The New Chinese Documentary Film Movement translates as “on-
of an issue of edited by Chris Berry, Lu Xinyu and Lisa Rofel the-spot realism”,
Ramayan 3392AD, Hong Kong University Press, HK$195 aesthetically it’s
all published by very much at odds
Liquid Comics Nicola Davison with the glossy
mainstream and is
In May 1999, Chinese independent filmmaker closer to cinéma
Wu Wenguang ran into the police. He was on a vérité, or “truthful
road trip with an underground performance cinema”, a French-
troupe in Shaanxi province when they were born documentary
accused of “staging obscene entertainment”. movement that
The leader of the troupe was taken in and uses naturalistic
their equipment confiscated. When Wu was techniques in
questioned about his role, he had two which the
answers: “I’m making a documentary” and director’s presence
“I’m an author”. Although the police let the is often felt. In Bumming in Beijing Wu uses a
troupe off with just a fine, Wu remained hand-held camera and no artificial lighting,
troubled by these definitions of his work, simply shooting things as they happen. People
neither of which quite fitted. ramble in and out of the frame.
Wu is one in a small group of determined As Chris Berry and Lisa Rofel note in their
filmmakers who, during the past few decades, concise introduction to the book (which
have been documenting China outside of doubles as an accessible overview of the
censorship and on shoestring budgets. movement), this style was enabled by the
Although a handful of academic books in introduction of DV. Digital tools allowed
Chinese have looked at the issue, The New directors to work without a crew and, as
Chinese Documentary Film Movement – a editing could be done on a computer, on the
comprehensive collection of essays written by cheap. The influence of DV and its on-the-spot
filmmakers and academics – is the first book in aesthetic can be seen not only in the New
English to discuss the phenomenon. Chinese documentaries, but also those of the
Part of Wu’s difficulty in defining his own Sixth Generation filmmakers who started
work is that it developed separately from the making films in the late 1990s.
mainland’s mainstream film culture that was Jia Zhangke, who makes independent
dominated by lush, stylised Fifth Generation documentaries beside his commercial work,
films that rejected the socialist realism of the and often employs an on-the-spot style,
communist era. In his essay in the book Wu, has hailed the post-DV age as “the age of
who’s regarded as the forefather of the the amateur”.
movement, writes about his more natural Though separated into four themed
approach to the troupe, where he used his chapters, as an almost purely academic text
digital video (DV) camera “like a pen”. (with the exception of Wu’s chapter, which has
“Getting up in the mornings, I would pull a refreshingly personal tone), The New Chinese
on my shoes, walk out of the tent, and take a Documentary Movement is difficult to
p*** in the wilderness, the air incomparably penetrate at times. Some of the essays, such as
clear and fresh and perfectly silent,” he writes. Translating the Unspeakable: On-Screen and
“A young roadie would be squatting not far off Off-Screen Voices in Wu Wenguang’s
… we would greet each other: ‘You’re up.’ At Documentary Work, get bogged down in
times like those, Beijing felt really far away. All technical jargon which is only of interest to
that modern art – really far away.” niche readers. For most, the book will be heavy
The origins of the book can be traced back reading, and basic knowledge of Chinese film
to a casual meeting of a dozen people in 1992 is helpful.
at the-then independent filmmaker Zhang One must-read chapter, however, is
Yuan’s house (Zhang went on to become one Documenting Marginalisation, or Identities
biographies and classics. Titles have excited about of the Sixth Generation filmmakers). In the New and Old, which focuses on the most
focused on Nelson Mandela, the the response. first essay in the book, which acts as a short important aspect of the documentaries: the
Wright brothers, Frankenstein, The “It was a blast. history of the movement, Lu Xinyu says there’s attention they cast on those neglected by the
Merchant of Venice, Oliver Twist and Nearly 20,000 significance in the fact it was born out of state-controlled media. Films such as Wang
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. people came over two rebellion against mainstream media. In the Bing’s epic nine-hour West of the Tracks (2003)
Samit Basu, the author of Devi days.” Basu agrees: “It is clear there late 1980s documentary making was state-run is living testament that criticism of the state
and other graphic novels, says: “The is no lack of enthusiasm among and news presenters were little more than did not wither with the Tiananmen crackdown
growth of Indian comics has moved readers of comic books. I could mouthpieces for the Communist Party. in 1989.
in two different directions now. On sense genuine excitement when I It’s no accident that the first independent Lu Xinyu provides an ample dissection of
one side, action-based comics about walked around.” documentary, Bumming in Beijing, was made the film in her essay, West of the Tracks: History
superheroes remain popular and on Basu adds something that bears by Wu in 1990, just one year after the and Class-Consciousness, that has been
the other, graphic novels in the tone out the trend towards comics crackdown in Tiananmen Square. The early translated for the book (Lu, who is a professor
of mature narratives are emerging.” targeted at adults. “If you say ‘comic New Chinese documentarians were part of a at Shanghai’s Fudan University, is perhaps the
The most notable of these novels convention’, you would expect that backlash seeking those marginalised by the expert on the movement, having written the
are Kari by Amruta Patil and in India, people would bring their mainstream – to go back to the grassroots, the seminal book in Chinese, Documenting China:
Corridor by Sarnath Banerjee, with children. But most visitors were “common folk”. Bumming in Beijing The New Documentary Movement in China in
casual references to aphrodisiacs, adults. They were all well-versed in examines five artists who, like Wu, are 2003). She writes deftly, if at times in a too-
lesbians and postmodernism. Of international comics and came struggling to survive independently outside dense academic tone, about the significance
late, blogs devoted to comic books wearing American and Japanese the state system. It’s a topic that wouldn’t have of Wang’s work.
and characters, as well as original character costumes.” The choice of been covered by the mainstream media. In the film Wang documents the drawn-out
comic strips, have begun to venue for the convention was also In his essay – which is arguably the decline of Shenyang’s industrial district, Tiexi,
mushroom. Merchandising is also interesting: Dilli Haat, a perennial highlight of the book – Wu describes his an area that was once vibrant in the socialist
finally in. “The stories and the market showcasing traditional filmmaking style, which got a considerable economy. Much of the genius of the film lies in
characters created by Vimanika will Indian arts and crafts, now played boost from the introduction of DV equipment. the entwined relationship of filmmaker and
be brought to life through animated host to an emerging Indian craft. “One after another, people and things enter subject: Wang spent a year and a half there,
films, live action films, games, toys, Considering that the word my lens; I do not go looking for them with the shooting more than 300 hours of footage
theme parks and much more,” Arora “comic” comes from the Greek idea of making a movie, they just naturally which map the closing of all three remaining
says. komikos for comedy there is still a happen in the course of my life,” he writes. “An plants – effectively the death of Tiexi.
As if to acknowledge this, the first startling dearth of humour in Indian art exhibit, a rock concert, a dinner party with Lu calls the first three minutes of the film,
Indian comic book convention was comics. Any element of humour is to friends, or just walking along the street … all in which a long take filmed from a slowly
held in New Delhi in the last week be seen only on blogs (called kinds of people and things, entirely without moving train takes in the snow-muffled,
of February. It saw fairly heavy webcomics) such as the popular theme, intention, or plot, crowd together onto abandoned factories of Tiexi, “a rite of passage
attendance and included a book fair FlyYouFools and Arbit MBA. the DV tapes.” into history”.
with more than 50 publishers. Arora, Perhaps here, too, the future is Like all of the New Chinese documentaries, As a window into this “other” Chinese
whose company was an associate digital. Ask Savita Bhabhi if you Bumming in Beijing is also remarkable for its world, these films (and by extension this book)
sponsor of the convention, remains don’t believe me. style. Termed jishi zhuyi, which roughly are important works.