CHENNAI: Have you ever read a comic about an angry Marathi maushi (aunty) in Mumbai who takes up guns to fight a local politician intent on hijacking the city’s sewage system with the ultimate aim of turning the population into zombies?
Believe it or not, that is the plot for Abhijeet Kini’s comic series Angry Maushi, which debuted at Comic Con Mumbai in 2011 and was a superhit! City Express talked to the Mumbai-based animator and illustrator when he came to Chennai to conduct a workshop on making comic books at IIT-Madras.
“I wanted to create a comic book based on the famous phrase ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’, and I thought why not go for it, plot or no plot? So that’s how Angry Maushi was born!” chuckles Abhijeet. The initial book spawned two more sequels with similarly zany plotlines, including Maushi becoming a Ninja fighter, which he calls the Guns, Fists and Blades Trilogy.
Having grown up reading comic books such as MAD Magazine, Tintin and Tinkle, which featured now-classic characters like Suppandi, Naseeruddin Hodja and Shikari Shambu, the progression to becoming an illustrator was natural for this Mass Media graduate.
“I started freelancing, and since 2004, I have been associated with Tinkle and illustrate stories like Suppandi, Butterfingers, Defective Detectives (about a pair of bumbling teen detectives) and Dental Diaries (about a vampire who loses his teeth). Apart from that I also self-publish comics, such as the Angry Maushi series, and also promote indie comics,” recalls Abhijeet.
Most of Abhijeet’s works involve sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek humour centering on social and political issues. And for the very same reason, Abhijeet adds that these comics are not targeted at kids. “Whenever I’m at a convention and a kid runs up and says that he wants one of these comics, I’ll tell them their parents will enjoy it more, I doubt the kids will,” he smiles.
But doesn’t he like to illustrate for superhero comics? “Though I read superhero comics I’m not a big fan of either of Marvel or DC Comics. Also, I feel that there is more to Indian comics than getting inspired from western superheroes,” he points out.
Is there a possibility of the Comic Con coming to Chennai? “It’s sad that Chennai has not yet hosted a Comic Con. This workshop and the Comic Book Celebration Week were organised as small steps, but unfortunately there’s no clear idea of when Chennai will see a Comic Con,” rues Abhijeet. Until then, let’s hope comic aficionados don’t do an Angry Maushi!