The early 1990s, I was still in school and we didn't have a cable connection at home. But I managed to 'boost' the antenna to catch stray cable TV signals.
The result was grainy, but good enough for me. And it was there, on a black and white TV screen, that I first met the legendary Quick Gun Murugun.
Now over a decade later the vegetarian cowboy is finally all set to shoot his mouth off on Indian silver screens.
And the man bringing the superhero with guntastic powers back is none else than the man who first introduced the character to us, Shashanka Ghosh. He was the then creative head of Channel [V].
The film is apparantly being released in four languages; English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Quick Gun Murugun is releasing on August 28, 2009. I'll book my tickets in advance.
The trailers of the Misadventures of an Indian Cowboy promise fun and Shahrukh Khan's take on Quick Gun Murugun in Om Shanti Om, would have familarised filmgoers who weren't exposed to the phenomenon.
I've put together a consolidated version of the Quick Gun Murugun trailers floating around.
And I've created a playlist a few Channel [V] Quick Gun promos here.
Shashanka's debut as a director was the sequel without a prequel (actually with an embedded prequel and sequel. Three films in one!) Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II. One of my all-time favourite songs, Allah Ke Bande, is from that film.
The synopsis of the film on its official website reads (Mind it! All links there open in new windows):
Quick Gun Murugun is an unlikely Superhero with Gungastic powers. He is a sincere South Indian Cowboy who considers it his duty to serve and protect. The movie revolves around the mis-adventures of Quick Gun Murugun and his fight with his arch villain Rice Plate Reddy!
Quick Gun enters into an epic battle that spans time and space. From a small South Indian village to Swarglok and then finally to the cosmopolitan Mumbai. He is torn between Mango Dolly who loves him secretly and his first love Locket Girl and his loyalty is put to the test.
And the producers have also commissioned a few comic book posters:
[Click for larger images]The star cast includes, Dr Rajendra Prasad (Quick Gun Murugan), Nasser (Rice Plate Reddy), Rambha (Mango Dolly), Anu Menon (Locket Lover), Sandhya Mridul (Masala News Reporter), Vinay Phatak (Mr Chitragupt), Ranvir Shorey (Sansani Reporter)and Raju Sundaram (Rowdy MBA).
People who have already watched it at film festivals have good things to say about the film. Hope I too get added to the film's fan list. And you too. I say!
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Me and so many like me learnt their history, mythology and biographies with quite an avidness, thanks to a publication called Amar Chitra Katha.
Now that venerable institution has relaunched the comic magazine in an online avatar. Though the people at ACK-Media are terming it as a 'launch', the domain amarchitrakatha.com existed for quite a while. It is only that the place has been refurbished.
Amar Chitra Katha used be be a property of India Book House but late last year ACK Media acquired it (alongwith another landmark publication - Tinkle). Anant Pai (better known as Uncle Pai) is the Editor Emeritus and Chief Story Teller in the new entity.
The website is being positioned as a "hub for everything related to Indian culture and story-telling."
The site allows users to create stories and art, lists cultural events (powered by Asklaila), and the ambitious ACK Pedia that seeks to be a combo of Wikipedia, Google Knol and Citizendium but limited to India and its culture.
But I am more interested in the comics. There's one story of the week that is available for free (but not for the readers of Cutting the Chai), to access the rest you need to pay $0.99 (Rs 40) per issue. I find the pricing a bit too high to be able generate widespread interest. In this digital age premium pricing often backfires.
It will indeed be a 'pleasure' to see characters (read nubile nymphets) that we grew up with in a digital avatar.
Though the site highlights only one story a week and the others are supposedly inaccesible to the general readers, you can find them here (I just dug out the appropriate links):
* Who is the Greater Devotee?
* The Most Beautiful Child in Agra
* Bhagat Singh
* The Ascetic and His Loin-Cloth
* Gopal Measures the Earth
* Shiva the Fisherman
* Hira the Milkmaid
* The Tiger and the Traveller
* Gajendra
* Rama Earns a Title
* The Man Who Brought Ill Luck
* The Day the Earth Broke into Two
ACK Media might take off has taken off the content if they realise realised that I'm giving people a sneek free preview of Amar Chitra Katha comics here.
In this online world, you either show all or know how to hide it proper. There's always someone lurking around the corner.
By the logic that if it is viewable it is downloadable, you can download for free Amar Chitra Katha.
But then I wouldn't like to delve into that. Free online reading is fine for now.
But ACK Media should lower the prices, else people would do just that.
The music industry hasn't yet learnt its lesson, the comics industry should.
Related posts:
* The Tinkle of Silver
* The Umbilici in Amar Chitra Katha
* The Original Superhero - Supremo
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Tintin and his loveable whisky-loving and faithful fox terrier friend Snowy kept me in adventurous company during many a rainy afternoon. I owned very few of Tintin comics, the price was a big deterrent, but read almost all of them thanks to the comic exchange programme that we friends practiced. One which I missed was the very first one, published in 1929, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (the other was the last but semi-complete - Tintin and Alph-Art).
Wilfing on the Internet the other day, I accidentally discovered Tintin in the Land of the Soviets on Scribd. Though the artwork in Tintin's first adventure is a far cry from the ones later ones which carried our young reporter (though he's rarely seen doing what reporters usually do) and his four legged friend to different parts of the world (including India, particularly the kingdom of Gaipajama, complete with all the stereotypes of fakirs and the Indian Rope Trick).
The comic book though meant for children is also a critique on different existing political systems. Be it the coup curry of Latin America or the Japanese interference in China. Hergé or Georges Remi (this was a favourite question of quizzards during our time as the name Hergé is a result of transposition of Georges Remi's initials) did support monarchy as depicted by Tintin's friendship with the Maharaja of Gaipyjama or his help for King Muskar XII of Syldavia in King Ottokar's Sceptre. Tintin in the Land of the Soviets shows the Bolsheviks in a very poor light (very unlike what we were taught in the school texts during our time) and this was perhaps the reason why the comic was not available in India. A few examples:
Tintin had inspired a number of people to produce unofficial comic books - one being Tintin in Thailand where Tintin goes on a 'sex holiday' to Thailand (it also features almost all of the major characters) - and I too produced one. I was 14 and in Class VIII when I put my very own Tintin adventure on paper (with pencils, a black Pilot pen and Camlin sketch pens), titling my work Tintin in Shilliont, keeping alive Hergé's tradition of fictitious lands based on real places. Shilliont was Shillong. But unfortunately, I lost that comic. If I remember right, Kisholay Ray (now a budding photographer), a good school pal, who had a much better hand at drawing than me also had his own version.
Though an animated series on the Adventures of Tintin had appeared on television, which I rarely missed (now I'm again rerunning them on my mobile), nothing beats the experience of the comic book in paper.
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Having stayed in the heart of India, Madhya Pradesh, for over two years (been visiting right form my childhood) and travelling quite extensively all over the state, I find this wonderful advertisement for tourism in MP all the more appealing.
So far have been to Jabalpur, Bilaspur (then MP), Bhopal, Indore, Ratlam, Sehore, Bhimbetka, Maihar, Bhojpur, Pachmarhi, Sanchi and of course, Khajuraho (twice over). Enjoy the multi-splendours of Madhya Pradesh in this bioscope of an ad.
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A transcript follows:
Til dekho, tar dekho
Aankhen phaad phaad dekho
Sher ki dahar dekho
Marble ka pahar dekho
Chandeli ki saree dekho
Bhandhavgarh ki jhaadi dekho
Ujjain ke sant dekho
Baudhik mahant dekho
Buddha ke nishaan dekho
Geeta aur qur'an dekho
Indore ki shaan dekho
Kaise banta paan dekho
Ta thaiya taa…
Khajuraho shilpkari dekho
Bhimbetka kalakari dekho
Kattar prem pujari dekho
Aankhen meeche meeche dekho
Aankhen phaad phaad dekho
Satpura ki rani dekho
Bhopal rajdhani dekho
Raajdhani mein jheel dekho
Behta paani jhilmil dekho
Dharmon ki mehfil dekho
Hindustan ka dil dekho…
Ta thaiya taa…
(Come prepared
Madhya Pradesh
The heart of Incredible !ndia)
Speaking of bioscopes, there is a documentary on The Bioscopewallah by Prashant Kadam. I've heard a lot about the film but haven't watched it yet.
Update: (June 28, 2007) The popularity of the aforementioned TVC has led to a print campaign which essentially showcases the ingredients of the TVC in a comic strip format (with a few additional places added):
[Click on images for a larger view]
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Kapil Dev lead India to its only first Cricket World Cup victory in 1983. Even prior to that eventful English summer Kapil was a hero in India. This ad from July 4, 1982 (Indrajal Comics No. 418) in a comic strip format has the Haryana Hurricane riding a BSA SLR followed by a Test victory and the Man-of-the-Match award (Agency: Rediffusion).
[Click on image for a bigger view]
The day BSA SLR helped Kapil Dev fly high. BSA SLR - The Sporty Bike.
Looking forward to a similar Dravid ad, with the ICC World Cup in hand.
Jeetega bhai jeetega, India jeetega!
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Amar Chirta Katha, that venerable source of history and mythology for an entire pre-cable TV and internet generation also gratified other needs of pubescent boys. Ludwig at ships, shoes, sealing wax (I don’t know whether he sells the stuff too) offers us An Introduction to Ancient Indian Navel Architecture, With Some Observations on Contemporary Popular Historiography, where he analyses the art of different illustrators and concludes "that the Amar Chitra Kathas had had a much more formative effect on one's psyche than one had hitherto suspected."
[Via Desipundit]
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Kkrish had been touted as the first Indian superhero and Hrithik Roshan donned the mask (I'm yet to watch the movie, but am in no hurry). On the silver screen, maybe. On television there was the crappy Shaktiman (looked more like a parody of Superman) played by a visibly aging Mukesh Khanna. But in the real world of superheroes, in the pages of comic books, it is the asli angry young man - Amitabh Bachchan (he is no longer young nor angry) who first donned the undies (rather a lungi) over the bodysuit. The Big B might be better remembered as the chain-haunted Inspector Vijay Khanna, but he also possessed an alter ego (like most superheroes) - Supremo. There was the original Little Master Sunil Gavaskar as Sunny (but I'm not sure who came in first).
The must-visit blog for any genuine Indian comic lover - The Comic Project - has posted a Supremo comic (the reason behind this post). It is second in the series of The Adventures of Amitabh Bachchan scripted by Gulzar and published by India Book House, the force behind Amar Chitra Katha, the institution from where we all learned our epics, biographies and fables.
If anyone has copies of Supremo or Sunny comics please do let TCP (or me) know. And do keep Supremo's real identity a secret.
Image courtesy: internationalhero.co.uk/India Book House
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This is the twelfth and the last instalment in Season One of Vintage Indian Advertisements, which was exclusively sourced from the pages of Indrajal Comics (Courtesy: The Comic Project). Will attempt to bring in some more variety in Season Two (maybe some television commercials). What I intend to do is to develop an online freely accessible archive of Indian advertising. If anyone has some old and interesting ads to share, please do send them across at the email mentioned in the profile. Now to the ads:
[Click on the images for a bigger view]
Chiclets
United Commercial Bank (UCO Bank)
View Master - Stereo Viewer
View Master - Stereo Viewer
Russian Postage Stamps
Russian Postage Stamps
Previous instalments of vintage Indian ads
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh | Eighth | Ninth | Tenth | Evelenth
Update: Season Two of Vintage Indian Advertisements can be accessed here
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The eleventh instalment:
[Click on the images for a bigger view]
Amul's Nutramul (The Nutramul Dada is Jugal Hansraj)
Parry's
Parry's
Nutrine
Nutrine
Previous instalments of vintage Indian ads
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh | Eighth | Ninth | Tenth
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The tenth instalment:
[Click on the images for a bigger view]
NP Dubble Bubble Gum
Chic-Modithread Children's Needlework Contest (To celebrate the International Year of the Child 1979)
Cadbury's Gems
Mysore Sandal Soap - Great Indian Heritage Contest
Amul's Nutramul
Previous instalments of vintage Indian ads
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh | Eighth | Ninth
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The ninth instalment:
[Click on the images for a bigger view]
Morton Sweets
Leo Toys
Leo Toys
Liberty Luna Cameras
Life Insurance Corporation of India
Previous instalments of vintage Indian ads
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh | Eighth
Update: Season Two of Vintage Indian Advertisements can be accessed here
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The eighth instalment:
[Click on the images for a bigger view]
Kissan Jam
Fevicol Synthetic Adhesive
Cadbury's Gems
Kissan Jam
Harnik Food Industries (The same one that manufactured those Phantom Cigarettes, an old favourite. I luxuriously smoked, rather sucked off uncountable packets. They had to change their logo from a Phantom lookalike to a pirate sort of thing. And doesn't the bigger kid resemble Rahul Dravid?)
Previous instalments of vintage Indian ads
First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh
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I have a thing for comics and also for new web utilities. 
