Wednesday, August 6, 2014

India’s first comic superhero



Manas Gupta

Everyone in India knows Chacha Chaudhary ka dimag computer se bhi tez chalta hai. And I mean everyone. It’s as iconic as Superman’s flaming red underpants, Wonder Woman’s lasso of truth or Phantom’s old jungle sayings. And it is the legacy of a genius called Pran.



Chacha Chaudhary, that sharp but short old man with the red turban and the toothbrush moustache invokes nostalgia in many of us. In an innocent time, when the Internet didn’t exist and comics and magazines were far more entertaining than the boring Doordarshan on TV, Pran’s comics transported us into a world of colour and jokes and brawny aliens from Jupiter.

For small-town India, Pran’s comics were the equivalent of Blyton’s Famous Five or Asterix and Tintin. Sure, Diamond Comics (or Lotpot) quality wasn’t on a par with these works but everyone didn’t have access to a Tintin comic or a Hitchcock book.

For me, Billoo and Pinky and the gang provided solace in boring afternoons in the small and sleepy town of Bijnor in UP, where powercuts and mosquitos competed to make your life miserable. 

My father had been posted to far off Car Nicobar and he had packed off the family to the home town. Being shy and reticent and usually ill, I found my only friends in the place to be this motley group of comic characters. So, I dove into Pran’s world with gusto and the comics, then available for rent at 25 paise, made me a fan for life.

The world of Hindi comics was new to me, but these characters seemed real and witty and the pleasure we got every time a villain was outfoxed or just beaten to a pulp was something else. So, I learned that doctor was written as daaktar in Hindi, that not only did life exist on Jupiter but so did volcanos and they were inexplicably linked to Sabu’s anger issues. I learned that the name of Chacha Chaudhry’s wife was “ari o bhagyawan” and her uniform was a polka dot sari while the belan (rolling pin) was her weapon of choice. 


Then there was the dog Rocket, the enemy Raka, Billoo who bore a striking resemblance to Beetle Bailey, the naughty Pinki and many more. 

It was a treasure trove of innocent stories that made some difficult times seem easy and perhaps inculcated a reading habit in many.

Thank you Pran Sahab, for the memories. We hope Sabu and the gang will keep you company up there.

You were India’s first comic superhero.


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