One fateful night, for Vikram Roy, life as he knew it ceased to exist. For, not only was he tangled in a struggle between the good and evil, but he also had to bear the agony of being torn from his family ruthlessly. Born of the fire and ash, this man, however, refused to lay down and die. Wandering in dark places where fear lurks beneath insanity, Vikram embarks on a journey of self-discovery. In his desperation, he soon begins to explore uncharted realms of human capabilities and twelve years on, returns to his world changed -- as Vira, the Aghori.
Writer Ram V, Pencillers Vivek Goel, Gaurav Shrivastav and guest artist Lalit Kumar Sharma (Nagraj) team up with colourist Yogesh Pugaonkar once again to bring yet another bone chilling installment of the critically acclaimed Aghori, a flagship series of the Holy Cow Entertainment, which was released on Saturday at Comic Con. In the third installment, Vira will delve deep into hell itself and face his foes on their turf, but the answers will bring him no solace, only fear and foreboding. People are dying and they must race against time to find answers.
“Technically, the Aghori series is all about a man’s journey to find his missing son. And, through out his journey, he has several encounters with the supernatural, thereby, forcing him to take up the practice of the powers of Aghora. We would like to think of this series as an Indianised version of John Constantine. Till date, there are not many people who have heard of the Aghoris. All that we know is they eat dead bodies and have no personal connection to hygiene. But do you know that eating dead bodies is in fact a level of desperation. You become an integral part of nature by dissolving yourself and becoming one with the earth,” said Vivek Goel who added that in order to become a successful Aghori, one needs to undergo 12 kriyas.
According to Ram V, the idea for the series stemmed from an encounter he had with an Aghori who spoke English and rode an Enfield. Personally, he feels that the latest issue will take the readers closer to resolving the plotline.
“In the third issue, you get to know what actually happened to Vira’s son and why they are torn apart. So, the book sets an incredible pace for the next edition. We will find out soon if Vira will actually save his son or no? I have always maintained that as Indians we have a lot of rich treasure trove of mythology and history. After all, we are one of the oldest civilisations on earth. But, I still feel that we tend to discourage creativity when it comes to taking inspiration from our own history for we usually categorise them under scriptures or religion,” said Ram who also felt that American and European writers grew up with the liberty of experimenting and exploring Greek mythology with complete freedom. However, in the Indian context, the possibility of creatively exploring religion is quite limited and that stifles innovation to a great extent.
So, apart from hopping from one adrenaline-packed supernatural adventure to the other, what’s next for Holy Cow Entertainment? “The first half of the Aghori series will conclude in August. After that we will release a 100-page graphic novel based on the dark side of Lord Shiva called The Skull Rosary. We have some huge plans for the next two years. And, we promise you that Aghori will be back with a bang in 2014,” said Vivek.