Comic World

Sunday, June 7, 2009

#Bal Pocket Books & Popular Novels

Alike comics,Bal pocket books were also very famous once upon a time.These Bal Pocket Books were used to be like mini novels consisting of stories of King-Queens,Suspense,Thrill,
Murder Mysteries etc.
I remember being a fan of Rajan-Iqbal of S.C.Bedi series before i was addicted to novels in general and to Ved Prakash Sharma in particular. Popular bal pocket books publishers of that time were 'Manoj Pocket Books,Harish Pocket Books,Sadhna Pocket Books,Diamond Pocket Books..etc. Diamond pocket books use to publish novels of almost their comic characters,i.e Fauladi Singh,Chacha-Bhatija,Tauji,Mama-Bhanja and many others,whereas Manoj pocket books use to publish of Ram-Rahim and King-Queen stories. I use to read Rajan-Iqbal series and MPB,though also read a few of Diamond pocket books but liked their comics more rather than pocket books.
Here are some of the images of pocket books from my collection which i purchased in recent past.

These are of the famous S.C.Bedi....

In the comments section of last post an avid reader and living encyclopedia "Kuldeep" mentioned about Ved Prakash Sharma novels,inspired by his comment i thought to post something on VPS too,checked the old forgotten bag consisting VPS novels,find that rats had made their path into that bag but fortunately not much damage was done except few sides eaten up by rats.Thanks Kuldeep for making me look into my VPS novels before they would have been damaged permanently.
Well,Kuldeep,interestingly there is striking similarity between you and me regarding reading VPS novels. Do you know the very first novel which i read of VPS,before being addicted to him is also "Alfanse Ki Shaadi"!!There was a friend in my Mohalla who was elder to me,he gave me this particular novel to read,at that time i was a master reader and use to read anything whatever comes my way,though alike you novel reading was also a taboo for a kid of 9 years at that time. Prior to 'Alfanse Ki Shaadi' i did had read few novels of 'Manoj,Prem Bajpayi etc..but not liked them much,but after AKS i was totally engrossed into VPS.
I remember visiting daily to the nearby books stall of my locality in search of its concluding part "Kafan Tere Bete Ka" and after a religious inquiry of months finally it did arrived but i was unable to take it as it was costing Rs.6/- which was impossible for a kid to arrange who use to get a meager 10-25 paisa pocket money per day.
With heavy heart i asked shop keeper to keep it booked for me unless i could arrange the required amount. After a month or so of rigorous saving of pocket money i went back leaping to that shop keeper with Rs.6/-(all 25 paisa coins) in my upper shirt pocket.There the shop keeper replies that all the copies has been sold,i was disappointed as never before,walked back to home like a failure or loser.
But fortunately not much time later i find that priced novel at a old book shop and at half the cost of the cover price,i.e for Rs.3/-.....finished that novel at a one go,was fully satisfied that my long wait was rewarded finally.
After it i was addicted to VPS like anything,read all his available novels from a local library and still use to read his new novels which are not a fraction of his oldies,but still somehow i have traces of addiction left in me of him.
Ved Prakash Sharma was at his career best when he was being published by Manoj Pocket books,the format of MPB and its page/printing quality was unmatched.I feel disappointed when i see the page and printing quality of latest novels which is far-far inferior than MPB. The granular cover design of MPB was also something still unmatched and exceptional,i still long to see a cover matching with of those times.

Have a look at the granular cover design of these VPS oldies.

Do anyone remember "Keshav Pandit & Kanoon Ka Beta"!!One of the best of VPS.

Ved Prakash Sharma was inspired by Ved Prakash Kamboj and on his lines he started with Vijay series and soon developed a style of his own,created Vikas at a later stage and soon became very popular with Vijay-Vikas series,continued to write on them till "Teen Tilange",which was a non Vijay-Vikas thriller.It was a huge hit after which VPS carved a successful space for non V-V novels. "Naseeb Mera Dushman,Vidhwa Ka Pati,Dulhan Mange Dahez,Sulag Utha Sindoor,Aag Lage Daulat Ko,Kanoon Badal Dalo,Phansi Do Kanoon Ko,Aa Bail Mujhe Maar,Lash Kahan Chhupaun,Insaf ka Sooraj" are some of the successful novels from this space.

Apart from VPS i also liked Gulshan Nanda a lot,in my view GN was the best romantic novelist,he was a master craftsmen who had a tight grip over his story line.The focus of his novels was on social issues with a undercurrent of romance in tuned with moral issues.He mesmerized readers with magic of his pen,he was expert in expressing difficult human expressions in simple words,a quality very rare to find.
Gulshan Nanda was the most successful novelist of his time on whose novels many blockbuster movies such as "Kaajal,Pathar Ke Sanam,Ajnabi,Khilona,Hanste Zakhm,Kati Patang,Jheel Ke Us Paar,Sharmeeli,Paley Khan etc..were made. He wrote only 47 novels in all but all his novels were masterpieces.

If one talks about very first successful thriller and spy novelists of India then the name of Ibne Safi can be taken without any doubt.He was the first novelist to set a trend for spy and series novels,which was followed up by likes of Om Prakash and Ved Prakash Sharma. Ibne Safi was born as 'Asrar Ahmad' in 1928 in U.P.,his work comprises of "Jasoosi Duniya" and "Imran Series" with former use to be published from Nakhat Publications,Allahabd(India) and later from Israr Publications(Pakistan).He was originally a Urdu writer whose work was also used to be translated into Hindi and Bengali. To know more about Ibne Safi please use this link

There was a time when i use to read any novel which i could find of,during my summer/winter holidays i use to rent many comics/novels per day and devour them.My reading speed was so fast that i use to need at least 3 novels or 10-15 comics per day.That was the time when i read most of other novelists like Om Prakash Sharma,Rajhans,Raanu,Sameer,Kushwaha Kant,Rajvansh and many others.

Here are the few scans of novels of those innumerable novelists.

You people must be knowing that screenplay along with dialogues and stills of successful Hindi movies were also used to published as novels by Hind Pocket Books in order to cash the success of these movies.Here are two such novels.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

#Comic No.126 & Vintage Deewana

Friends a devoted comic lover 'Alok' requested to post some pages from the earliest Deewana,which i have,for his documentary project.I searched and found this 1969 Deewana as the earliest one with me.So here are some features from it for Alok.

Illustrations of last two pages seems to be a hand work of very talented and experienced illustrator,unfortunately no information about him is provided in the magazine itself.If anybody have some information about this illustrator then please share with us.

A Madhumuskan was being requested from so long by many MM lovers,a vintage MM is finally scanned from 1st page to the last.Enjoy and don't forget to tell how you find it.

Download comic

Do anyone remember this comic!!Can anyone tell who is the hero of this comic....

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Thursday, May 28, 2009

#Comic No.123-25 & Silbil-Pilpil

Friends the following two Fauladi Singh comics are contributed by Deep for which all thanks and credit to him only. Since the comics were coverless hence the cover are missing.

After a long time a ACK has appeared on ACK site.Enjoy..

This comic can be downloaded from ACK (http://ack-india.blogspot.com/) site.

As you know Silbil-Pilpil were quite humorous characters of Deewana,their silly and funny acts in Haryanvi language was quite fun to read.Here is one such very funny act of this duo,pls let me know how you find it.
It was not mentioned anywhere in magazine that who was the write/illustrator of these characters,if anyone has any information about writer/illustrator of Silbil-Pilpil then pls do share with us.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

#Comic No.122:Mahatama Of Space

An English Fauladi Singh's comic was requested in last post and here it is right away.This story also deals with fake Gods like a earlier Fauladi Singh comic "Swarg Ke Bhagwan".

Have you heard or read "Saptahik Hindustan"!!It was a weekly news magazine in early 70's.I remember only a comic article "Musibat Hai" from it which use to get published on back of last page.This comic article dealt with day to day problems of a common men in interesting manner,i feel that Pran's 'Raman' may have been inspired by 'Musibat hai'.
Here is that comic page along with other nostalgic ads from Saptahik Hindustan.

A comic article by illustrator of comic page given below is used to publish nowdays in a very famous Indian magazine,can any one tell which is that magazine!!

For Deewana lovers here are few comic pages of it.Enjoy...

You know Phantom was use to appear in Deewana also!!Here is a page from it.

The religious belief of Phantom was generally not mentioned by Lee Falk,it has not been mentioned clearly by Falk that whether Phantom was a believer or Atheist!We never read in Indrajal the name of God being mentioned by Phantom anywhere in any reference.
But there is a story or strip of Falk where Phantom clearly mentions about GOD,can any one tell which is that strip!!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

#Comic No.120-121 and covers

Friends sorry for being so late in posting.I am thankful to my visitors who kept on visiting and kept on missing me. Due to prevailing adverse conditions i was keeping a eye on recent (mis)happenings and was a silent spectator of the situation. Anyway cautiously here i am back again with the two comics and few covers of the comics which i recently brought with me. The first is Motu-Patlu comic,Motu-Patlu, a brain child of Kripa Shankar Bhardwaj were quite funny due to their stupidness and hilarious situations. More information about Motu-Patlu is provided hereby Arun in his own words.Here is goes,for which all thanks and credit goes to him.

1.Introduction:- “Whom do you consider the longest running Indian comic character?”. When somebody asked me this question my spontaneous answer was “Motu-Patlu”. They started their journey in Lot-Pot in the early 70s and they are still appearing in it, though quite different from their old days.

2.Debut:- Motu-Patlu debuted in Lot-Pot in its old version and they were the brain child of Kripa Shankar Bhardwaj the celebrated cartoonist from India and one of the first exponents of this developing art in India. Their adventures, or rather misadventures, along-with their associates Dr. Jhatka and Master Ghasita Ram were the main attraction of Lot-Pot and the editors of Lot-Pot had given them full 10 pages whereas Chacha Choudhary, considered to be most popular comic character of India, was given only 3 pages. Those were the peak days of Motu-Patlu and they became the household names of Hindi heartland. Then abruptly the old Lot-Pot stopped and a new version was launched after some time and this time also Motu-Patlu were there but not by Kripa Shankar Bhardwaj but other lesser known artists and these features of Motu-Patlu looks not even the shadow of earlier Motu-Patlu as created by Bhardwaj but still they carried on and is carrying till today. So technically my argument is right that they are longest running cartoon characters of India from the early 70s till 2009 though it does not sound good to the hard-core fans of Bhardwaj.

3.Bhardwaj’s Motu-Patlu outside Lot-Pot:- Bhardwaj after coming out of Lot-Pot took his Motu-Patlu to Diamond Comics & Diwana. Diamond Comics published his features already published in Lot-Pot in comic form and he also created some new comics for them whereas in Diwana it appeared as a feature.

4.Other artists of Motu-Patlu:- After departure of Bhardawaj from Lot-Pot the editors deputed some other artists for creating feature of Motu-Patlu. Most of the post-Bhardwaj features of Motu-Patlu in Lot-Pot were created by Harvind Makkad. Other artists were Manik, T.R. Sippi and Vinod etc. I consider Manik to be the best among non-Bhardwaj Motu-Patlu artists. His Motu-Patlu covers for Lot-Pot are a delight to eyes.

I do not know whether I am correct or not but I am under the impression that one Diamond Comics featuring Motu-Patlu was also created by cartoonist Pran(of Chacha Choudhary fame) i.e. Motu-Patlu in Asiad. I may be wrong.

The reasons for my belief:-

1.In comics created by Pran Diamons Comics used to publish his brief life-sketch on the back.

2. In that particular comic (Motu-Patlu in Asiad) I had seen that sketch on the cover back though I do not remember now whether I had seen name of Pran on the top of front cover of the comic. (Name of Pran is published on the top of front cover (just above the title) of the comics created by him.

3.Cartoonist Pran in those days ( in the early 80s) had created comics of characters which are not created by him. I have two comics of Chacha-Bhatija created by cartoonist Pran.

Unfortunately, I do not have that comic with me now and I had read it in my early childhood. If somebody has definite knowledge about the same I request him/her to share it with us.

5.The difference between Bhardwaj Motu-Patlu and others’ Motu-Patlu:- They are miles apart both from the story point of view as well as in their appearance.

The Motu-Patlu of Bhardwaj were adventuress due looking for always doing something new in life. The comedy borns when they adventures turns in misadventures. They are silly not fool. They are brave as well and ready to take any job come their way. Their stories appeal to children and adults alike whereas others’s Motu-Patlu(except that of Manik to some extent) are fool, coward and good-for-nothing. Their stories appeal only to children and adults do not find it interesting enough. Most the stories of Manik are based on the confrontation between the good deeds of Motu-Patlu and bad ideas of Master Ghasita Ram.

The difference of appearance can be understood only when you see illustrations of both of them. In words it is difficult to explain but I can say that Bhardwaj’s Motu-Patlu are stout and handsome in comparison of others Motu-Patlu where they are shown as loose-bodied.

6.Bhardwaj apart from Motu-Patlu:- Bhardwaj created some other comic characters for publications like Diwana, Raj Comics & Manoj Comics, etc. but never tested so much success as he tested with Motu-Patlu. In 90s he returned to Lot-Pot and created some other characters but apart from Sheikh Chilli rest of the his characters were short-lived and disappeared very soon. It is surprising that why editors of Lot-Pot did not give Motu-Patlu again to Bhardwaj. Subsequently, though he created some features of Motu-Patlu but to the disappointment of his fans he changed the appearance of Motu-Patlu on the lines of others and his new stories also misses the punches for which he is known in the 70s.

7.Publications of Motu-Patlu:- I have come across the following publishers who published Motu-Patlu stories:-

(i) Lot-Pot.

(ii) Diamond Comics(including Comic World/Digest/Pitara, Ankur/ Paltoo/Pikloo series and Diamond Comics Digest).

(iii) Diwana.

(iv) Pitara Comics. (Short-lived comics publication. A sister concern of Lot-Pot.)

8.Gang of Motu-Patlu:- Apart from Motu-Patlu there are some characters in their stories. Among them Dr. Jhatka & Master Ghasita Ram were as popular as Motu-Patlu themselves and they appeared in most of their stories. From my memory I am preparing the list of gang of Motu-Patlu:-

1. Motu

2. Patlu

3. Dr. Jhatka

4. Master Ghasita Ram

5. Chela Ram

6. Papita Ram

7. Nayan Sukh

8. Dhela Ram

9. Chhella Ram

10. Akalmand Ullo (Wise(silly) owl). He speaks like humans.

There are two characters more whose name I am not able to remember now.

9. Trivia:-

(i) As Bhardwaji used to write his name in a stylish manner as a child I was not able to read his name and used to read it as “Narayani”. It was only a year back when I got some old Lot-Pots and Diamond Comics that I was able to figure out his real name.

(ii) Papita Ram never appeared in Bhardwaj’s features. He appeared only in others’ features. Similarly, Chela Ram appeared in Bhardwaj’s features exclusively except once when he appeared in a Pitara Comics.

(iii) In Ankur/Paltoo/Pikloo series of Diamond Comics Bhardwaj created some features exclusively showing Master Ghasita Ram. They were based on his misadventures in class. There were some stories in which Chela Ram was shown as detective and whole of those stories were based on Chela Ram and Motu-Patlu appeared only as a token in those stories in some panels on one or two pages. Diamond Comics also published some puzzles featuring Motu-Patlu & Gang.

(iv) Drawing of some of the Motu-Patlu features in Diamond comics seems different to me than the style of drawing of Bhardwaj like some Chela Ram defective stories or comic like Motu-Patlu in Maut ki Ghati. I wonder whether they are created by some other artist.

(v) In earlier/old issues of Lot-Pot they carried features like “Pathko Ke Sawal Aur Master Ghasita Ram/Dr. Jhatka ke jabab.

(vi) Motu-Patlu and Co. appeared in some of the Sheikh Chilli stories and Sheikh Chilli appeared in some of Motu-Patlu stories.

(Story & Illustrations:Kripa Shankar Bhardwaj)

Super Commando Dhruv fame Anupam Sinha started his career with Chitra Bharti comics where he created his first Hero "Private Detective Kapil" which was quite popular then. Here is one such comic of Kapil where he solves mysteries with his sharp mind.