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| Bahadur - The first Indian Comics Hero |
| Tuesday, June 21, 2005 |
Mention Indian action comics and this conjures up the images of gaudily drawn adventures of jungle lords like Mahabali Shaaka, a cross between Tarzan and Phantom, and hugely successful in circulation, or superhero spinoffs like Nagraj (who shoots serpents out of his wrist, has a secret identity, which surprise, surprise, involves wearing glasses and working as a reporter!)
And many others.
However, long before any of these were on the scene, Bennet and Coleman Ltd., the publishers of Indrajal Comics which presented Phantom, Mandrake among others to the Indian readers, brought out stories of Bahadur (literally translated means The Brave). Created by the duo of Jagjit Uppal and B Govind (who illustrated many fantastic painted covers for Indrajal Comics), this was loosely inspired by the Phantom in some respects, but delightfully original in many others.
The Dacoit's Son
The story begins when a dacoit who has been terrorising villages and people is shot dead by the Chief of Police Vishal. The dacoit's teenaged son swears revenge on the policeman who caused the death of his father. However, Vishal convinces the young lad the folly of his ways, and helps him turn over a new leaf. The boy is Bahadur, and he grows up to enforce law and order in the little bustling town of Jaigarh, though many stories have him traveling thru the length and breadth of the country, even overseas and abroad on a few occasions.
The Citizens' Security Force
Jaigarh is located near a hotbed of infamy and crime, and is a haven for smugglers and racketeers. Bahadur, along with Vishal's assistance, sets up a voluntary organization of cadets who are trained in law enforcement and assist the police in maintaining law and order. Shades of the Jungle Patrol no doubt, but the CSF takes on a life of its own thru later stories.
A Matter of Heart What good is an adventure story without any romantic interest? Bahadur's love interest is Bela in the stories. Parallels to Diana galore, Bela is spunky, courageous and extremely skilled in martial arts. Though there have been a few stories where villains try to get at Bahadur thru her, she does manage pretty well on her own.
The Supporting Cast
Assisting Bahadur in managing the CSF are Sukhia and Lakhan. Lakhan is an ex-dacoit who surrenders to the police and now dedicates his services to law enforcement. Mukhia (literally translated means Chieftain) is the village leader and a good friend of Bahadur's. Many stories feature the merry trio (Mukhia, Sukhia and Lakhan) aiding Bahadur.
From Dacoits to Espionage
The initial scenarios of the stories were in ravines and valleys, with horses and rifles. Gradually, modernization of plot crept in. In one story, Bahadur helps smash a coup attempt.
The final touch
Making the comparison final with the Phantom, Bahadur finally got a dog in the later stories. And of course, some stories have captions like "Bahadur moves faster than cheetah"
The early stories boasted of some beautiful layouts and detailed pen and brushwork.
Later on, the art chores were taken over by B Pramod. Of course, by then, time had moved on, and Jaigarh had transformed from a sleepy town of ravines and dacoits into a modern city-town with all its problems.
Indrajal Comics later tried with two more indigenous creations: Aditya - The Man From Nowhere (a hermit with mystic powers for fighting crime and evil) and Dara (a cross between X9 and Phantom)!
However, Bahadur stands out as a truly successful creation. The stories manage to perfectly capture the ambience of geographic location. And without being preachy or dull!
[The above article is posted by someone else on a different forum, but I put it here, as this is a great information about Bahadur, and need to be spread across.] |
posted by DesiGuru @ 3:04 PM   |
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| 3 Comments: |
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excellent description of bahadur :-) btw...i have a dara comic (lost aditya). i will scan it soon.
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thanks for the comments, i shud not take credit for this, as it was a copy paste.
But i can't find much info on Bahadur on Net, so decided to share it here.
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you forgot to mention one pioneer name of the Bahadur creator which is "Abid Surti",he was the writer of Bahadur initial stories which sought Bahadur popularity that he enjoys..later script work was taken by Jagjit Uppal but he couldn't match it with Surti.
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excellent description of bahadur :-) btw...i have a dara comic (lost aditya). i will scan it soon.