Mainstream is usually defined as “a current of thought that is
presently widespread”. However, this does not emphasize enough on
the fact that the mainstream is a very fluid, dynamic concept. It is
akin to the public opinion to an extent as mainstream has a recursive
relationship with itself; Mainstream is what the Mainstream insists
it is. We see many glaring examples of it in the recent past. Movies
like “Gangs Of Wasseypur”, which would have been classified as an
Indie, Experimental movie in the not-so-distant past, went on to be a
massive success and became a widely love and often quoted movie.
Therefore, inclusion of any content into the Mainstream is an
unpredictable event.
Literature in India has always been on the fringes of the mainstream
on its own accord. Until the arrival of the youthful generation of
popular writers like Chetan Bhagat, Ravinder Singh and Amish Tripathi
writing easy to read, accessible fiction, India had a dedicated but
extremely small community of voracious readers. As a result, inspite
of a rich literary heritage, books and reading never entered the
mainstream and public consciousness in a significant way. There have
been sporadic instances of books gaining some traction with the
mainstream over the years, but they still never yielded the kind of
influence Movies and Popular Music did.
Indian Comics have remained on the fringes of Literature which in and
of itself remained on the fringes of the Mainstream. As a result,
Indian Comics have never received their due in Indian Mainstream
Media. Inspite of the “Nerd” and “Geek” stereotypes
associated with Comics readers in the Western Hemisphere of the
planet, there has always been a demand and supply of Comic related
content in the Mainstream. Dating back to the Adam West Batman show
to the 1960s and the recent surge in comic book inspired content
brought on by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Comics have had their
share in the Mainstream for a very long time now in the West. Nothing
similar had ever been achieved in India inspite of almost 30 years of
comic book publishing now.
In the Indian Mainstream Media, comics have always had a
step-brotherly treatment meted out to them. Inspite of the rich
gallery of characters and stories, the mainstream preferred to go for
the same old hackneyed plots in movies and TV instead of
experimenting with some new forms of content. I shall now talk about
the factors that caused this prejudice.
First, and possibly the most important factor, is age. Indian Comics
are still in their infancy compared to Marvel or DC. Marvel has been
operation for nearly a 100 years now, same goes for Disney and DC. In
comparison, comics with original characters were published in Indian
starting in the 1980s. Before that, most of the content published had
been syndicated Western titles like “Mandrake”, “Phantom” and
“Tarzan”. Indrajaal Comics had been an important publisher of the
syndicated content for a very long time. In the late 70s and early
80s though, India saw a boom in new, original content. Many big
players like Raj Comics, Manoj Comics, Radha Comics and Diamond
Comics entered the market with a fresh roster of characters and
stories that inspite of being inspired from the west, were still
Indian at heart. However, while Hollywood was making dedicated shows
and movies on superheroes, Indian writers and artists were still
finding their voice, leading to a lack of quality, original content
for the Mainstream media to adapt in the first place. This process
continues somewhat to this day too. While Hollywood has almost 70
years of source material to draw inspiration from, India has less
than 2-3 decades of content to offer.
Secondly,
lack of investment. Comics in India have traditionally been marketed
to children. As a result the cost of the comics had been extremely
low to attract children towards them and ensure that the parents did
not begrudge paying for their children's hobbies due to the high
cost. As a result, inspite of selling hundred of thousands of copies
at their peak, comic firms made little profit. This dissuaded many
investors from investing in comic book inspired content as well.
Entertainment, at the end of the day, is still a business and
investments are made to gain profit. Because the target audience had
been children whose say mattered very little back in the day (till
the 1990s) in choosing the forms of entertainment of the family due
to the social structure, the investment was deemed too risky and no
money was put into creation of Mainstream Media content.
A sub-heading of the investment argument can also be the high
investment needed to make content in the first place. Making any good
quality comic book inspired content would demand a high capital
investment for special effects and other over heads of a production.
A good example of this is the “Nagraj” TV show attempted in the
90s which never made it to the TV screens due to hilariously bad
special effects which were corny even by the 90s standard.
However, it would be amiss to not address the one glaring exception
to the rule. Sahara TV, back in the mid 2000s, produced a show based
on the quintessential Indian Comic Character, Chacha Chaudhary which
became loved and acclaimed due to its simple plotlines, brilliant
depiction of the character by Raghuveer Yadav and faithfulness to the
source material.
There has also been some retro-fitted comic content, where a TV show
was produced followed by the release of a comic to cash in on the
popularity of the show. “Shaktimaan” and “Captain Vyom” are
important examples of this. However, as the source material did not
begin as a comic, I do not count them within the purview of this
paper. The comics were mostly a frame by frame retelling of episodes
of the show. The shows however, did achieve significant mainstream
success, especially Shaktimaan, which has achieved almost a cult
status of late.
There is however, also an upward swing in the interest in comics and
their reluctant inclusion into the mainstream. Acclaimed film maker
Anurag Kashyap has shown interest in “Doga”, a Raj Comics
character and have gone on record saying they want to make a movie
using the character. The recent “Comic Cons” in cities like
Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad have also generated a lot of buzz and
interest into the Indian Comic Scene amongst the fans.
Another important factor here again is age. The generation Y, which
grew up reading these characters' exploits and escapades has now
turned into the new consumers that will inevitably support content
based on their childhood characters, for nostalgia if not the actual
content itself. We saw this recently with Byomkesh Bakshi, with many
from the Generation X going to watch the movie simply to revisit
watching the TV serial on Doordarshan.
Thirdly, the developments in the Indian Special Effects and Animation
industry. Many of the major blockbuster Hollywood movies have often
outsourced their Special Effects work to India. Movies like “Life
of Pi” had all their special effects jobs done right here in India.
Therefore, we have the work force and skill to make a convincing
special effect laden, high octane, action movie full of flying
bullets, swinging heroes and exploding cars at a fraction of the cost
than would have been just a decade ago.
Lastly, and perhaps the most important of them all, content. With the
rise in the recent Indie publishing houses and the rich gallery of
characters from the past, we now have adequate good quality content
to adapt. It varies from a single, ridiculously themed supervillain
(like the Sam Raimi Spiderman movie) to Planet threatening plots
(Like “The Avengers”). The Indian counterparts would be the
silver age comics like “Chumba Ka Chakravyuh”, to the more recent
and much grander in scale “Nagayan”.
In conclusion, my thesis remains this. Indian comics have been always
been resolutely ignored by the Mainstream for a long time now. The
reasons have varied from lack of original content to lack of
investment. But now, the time is just right for a forceful inclusion
into the Mainstream by the Indian Comics scene. We need to ride the
superhero wave brought on by the bitter Marvel-DC rivalry in the
theaters and remind people that India has some amazing characters
capable of awe-inspiring feats as well. The Indian Comics community
has sat out on the fence for too long and now its time to gain both
love and respect from the Mainstream audience as a legitimate art
form and medium of entertainment.
