HYDERABAD : The allure of grasping a glossy booklet filled with colourful pages and panels, immersing oneself in the emotions, struggles, and adventures of fictional characters, remains undiminished, despite the emergence of many new-age mediums.
Thanks to Comic Con, comic books open up a world that transcends mere entertainment and is increasingly becoming a cherished lifestyle for many.
Alpha Comics unveiled two new titles at Comic-Con this year: ‘Al-Zebra’, which follows Alpesh (Al), a boy aspiring to be a magician despite his mother’s objections due to his father’s disappearance. Al’s pigeon, named Zebra, aids him in confronting a nemesis planning to steal a sacred rock from Nepal, destined for Ayodhya to be transformed into a statue of Lord Rama.
The other title, ‘Magic Pencil’, is a sequel to ‘Chahal Pahal’—the tale of Chahal, a girl who gains the confidence to stand up to bullies in school with the help of her teacher, Jyotsana. One day, Jyotsana disappears, and Chahal receives a doll—Pahal, her alter ego. In the sequel, Dhiren loses his magic pencil during exams. Chahal, Pahal, and Dhiren team up to find it, unravelling a robbery in Shimla along the way.
The creative mind behind these nail-biting stories is Saahil S Sharma, a screenplay writer based in Mumbai. Hailing from Himachal Pradesh, Sharma released his first comic titled ‘Professor Ashwatthama’ under his banner CheeseBurger Comics, which has sold over 5,000 copies in India and earned acclaim from critics and readers alike.
Through Alpha Comics, he released ‘Adventures of Chahal Pahal’, ‘Agent J in Operation Ganga’, and ‘Al-Zebra’. “Comic books have always been my love. I was born in Kullu and have been brought up in Shimla and Parwanu. I have also faced bullying in school because I was a bit dark. I know how it feels,” he said.
He told us that ‘Agent J in Operation Ganga’, talks about the environment along with a fictionalised history of the Nanda Devi accident. It also talks about pollution in Ganga and how Agent J solves the problem. On being asked how he decides on the medium, time, and place of the story, he responded, “I think a visual medium is always appealing. Until I saw Naruto, I never thought of buying the book. This is the reason why Sanjay Gupta, the father of Indian superheroes and founder of Alpha Comics, has a lot of fan-following from the 80s and 90s kids. We wanted to make something for the millennials who are drawn towards storytelling which connects to them. As a screenwriter, I write my stories in a way that they can be adapted into animation, a live-action series, or even a film.”
A trailer of Chahal Pahal, soon to be transformed into a web series was also released at Comic Con. Talking about the adaptability of comics into animations, Sharma said, “It is because of the visual medium. At Comic Con, you will see more anime stores than those with Indian comics. I think visual content plays a lot of part over here. Manga is sold like 60,000 copies a month. You’ll not see literature selling like that. Their stories are quite simple and have meaning in them. It is connected to their culture. We’re also trying to create stories that connect everyone, have meaning in them and connect to the Indian culture.”
When asked if there is a reverse trend also, movies impacting comics, Sharma said, “In comics, only a few copies or titles are sold. The process of creation is huge too, even if it is just 64 pages. Once comics are adapted into animation or films, I think, the game changes altogether. The inverse impact is there, definitely, but these days people are also experimenting with the content of comics.
They are trying to bring in horror, science fiction, and everything else because making that on a live screen is very expensive. For example, Prabhas’s Kalki was first released as a comic book. Cashing in through the screen also adds to the popularity of the story.”
Operation Ganga, Chahal Pahal are quite engaging stories with strong female leads and Saahil credits the presence of strong real-life superheroes for it. “I’ve been surrounded by strong women. There have always been women in my life who have made me stronger. My mother, my wife, friends, and colleagues. I am talking about 1999-2000, times when I saw my mother struggling. These stories were never told. I always wanted to start with a female superhero. My upcoming story called “Bhramari” will also see a female lead and will be released by this year-end.