Should Indian Comics be Revived?

Those of us who were lucky enough to be born in the 70s and maybe the early 80s had a chance to have the best of both worlds – and by that I mean the world of entertainment prior to the advent of cable TV in India as well as after. Our weekends were not spent in front of the TV following our not-to-be-missed TV serials or going to multiplexes to watch movies with overpriced popcorn. While I’m not exactly ruing the way a 5 rupee bag of popcorn has made way for the 65 rupee tub of caramel popcorn, I certainly miss the days when we were allowed to spend at least a half hour of our daily time reading comics when exams weren’t looming large.

Every Indian child born in that era will tell you that his/her love affair with reading began with Tinkle comics. Who can forget Chamataka and Doob Doob, Shikari Shambu, fairy tales from different countries adapted into the graphic format and the most loved simpleton of all time, Suppandi? And then there was Amar Chitra Katha, the all encompassing comic when it came to mythology and history, and the Panchatantra and Jataka (folk) tales. Amar Chitra Katha made history so easy to learn – and simple morals like “Do good to your fellowmen” and “Be kind to all animals” so easy to follow.

Before cable TV happened, and Sundays were all about Ramayana and Mahabharata, we got a welcome respite from the Hindu holy war and Sita’s banishment from the kingdom in the form of the hugely popular TV series, Vikram aur Betaal – a series about King Vikramaditya who sought the help of a friendly wise ghost who advised him on how to conduct himself as a ruler and solve all his problems of state in a just manner. But do you know what inspired this series? It was none other than the story series of the same name that appeared in the children’s comic and fortnightly magazine, Chandamama, which was published in regional languages as well.

These three were the pioneer Indian comics that paved the way for the popularity of Indrajal comics, India’s answer to Phantom and Mandrake; Chacha Chaudhury, a wise, quick-thinking old man who could solve crimes in his neighborhood with the help of a brain that was “sharper than a needle” and the lesser known Detective Moochwala, Gardhab Das and Bhokal, among others.

These comics opened up many a young child’s mind to the endless possibilities and encouraged art in its many forms as an outlet for even those students who spent their evenings solving Algebraic equations and getting working models of science projects ready. They were informative, entertaining and absolute value for money. For these very reasons, these comics need to be revived to get today’s youth out of a sense of being mind-numbed by all the TV that they watch to while away their time. Librarians and bookshops should be encouraged to make sure these comics are more visible for sale and subscriptions, as should parents and teachers who can speak about their wonder years and get children interested in reading them. Many studies suggest that there is a global movement on to encourage readership so that today’s youth can become more open-minded. Teachers, parents, and the elders of society have in the past found that these comics were an important tool in the overall development of a child. Once school children start reading such comics again, who knows? They might even want to go out and play games in the evening instead of settling in front of the TV for hours together.

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