...and Other Knights
Jalebi Woman, Laddoo Boy and a Bong vamp. Rajkamal Aich’s superheroes are charmingly weird
HE LOOKS like just another Bengali babu offering you a seat in the Metro. But once it’s dark, he lurks around Kolkata, and digs his fangs into roshogullas to suck the sweet syrup. His name: Bengali Vampire.
“Blood is for Caucasians. This vampire is Bengali, so he wants a
rasgulla,” says Rajkamal Aich, the Kolkata-born, Dehi-based illustrator
who created the villain for his new Facebook series: Indian Superheroes.
The series is probably India’s first attempt to mix herogiri and
humour.
Aich, a data visualiser for a business newspaper, has a simple mission: to give India its own, indigenous superheroes. His characters have hilarious powers: Ladoo Boy throws ladoos, the villain Elasti Chhara cuts the elastic from underwear, Bhaja Mukho eats the fried part from samosas, leaving only the potato core.
BEING SUPER
Aich began an online photo project, Batman in India, depicting his Batman figurine celebrating Holi and complaining about Delhi’s heat. He then wondered, “Why do all super heroes have to be Caucasian?” Watching films like Krrish and Ra.One and the TV series Chhota Bheem, he felt those characters lacked creativity. “Calvin spoke to Hobbes, his stuffed toy, all his life. Spongebob is a sponge created as a living character,” he points out. “But everything in India is drawn from religion and mythology, or copied from Hollywood. I picked food.”
He’s started off with a full plate: Kaju Katli (who attacks cake
eaters with kajus so they appreciate mithai), Misti-Doi Man (who ate
misti doi and gained the power to say ‘NO’) and that chap who eyes your
samosas. And he says they’re all designed to encourage kids’
imagination. Next up are ideas for an aloo bhujia hero and a French fry
villain. “If I can get even one kid to enter McDonald’s and refuse to
eat fries because it’s a villain, I will have achieved my purpose,” Aich
says. He also wants to create monsters that pollute rivers and increase
corruption. Till someone finally takes blame, he will always find new
monsters to create. “That’s probably because I see myself in the mirror a
lot,” he jokes.
Aich began an online photo project, Batman in India, depicting his Batman figurine celebrating Holi and complaining about Delhi’s heat. He then wondered, “Why do all super heroes have to be Caucasian?” Watching films like Krrish and Ra.One and the TV series Chhota Bheem, he felt those characters lacked creativity. “Calvin spoke to Hobbes, his stuffed toy, all his life. Spongebob is a sponge created as a living character,” he points out. “But everything in India is drawn from religion and mythology, or copied from Hollywood. I picked food.”
He’s started off with a full plate: Kaju Katli (who attacks cake
eaters with kajus so they appreciate mithai), Misti-Doi Man (who ate
misti doi and gained the power to say ‘NO’) and that chap who eyes your
samosas. And he says they’re all designed to encourage kids’
imagination. Next up are ideas for an aloo bhujia hero and a French fry
villain. “If I can get even one kid to enter McDonald’s and refuse to
eat fries because it’s a villain, I will have achieved my purpose,” Aich
says. He also wants to create monsters that pollute rivers and increase
corruption. Till someone finally takes blame, he will always find new
monsters to create. “That’s probably because I see myself in the mirror a
lot,” he jokes.
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