Look who turned 60. (Link to Indian Writing)
That little magazine was in a league of its own - a hodge-podge of Gothic fantasy, mythology and fairy tales. (The Wiki is very sparse on details. Indian Comix/Fantasy fans, please note.)
I mostly remember the magazine for the creepy illustration accompanying the classic Vikram-Vetal series. (Link to Rediff)
Kamat's Potpourri has a graphic from the magazine, circa 1979.
18 comments:
I didn't know it was that old!
Never was a big Chandamama fan. I preferred the blood and guts of Amar Chitra Katha with its horrifically graphic (for a 9 year old) imagery. I still remember this insane picture of a decapitated, de-armed demon with a great gaping bloody hole through his insides, spouting gore and crushing soldiers underfoot as he stumbled to his doom. Gave me nightmares for weeks.
BTW - What Gothic fantasy did CM cover?
MT,
Vikram-Vetal has a strong gothic feel to it. (And that moonlit forest is definitely gothic!)
I remember the TV show - I'll look out for the comic.
loved the v-v tv show just for the "main jaa raha hoon, vikram. a ha ha ha ha" line. chandamama, at least to me, was inferior to champak (not to say the targets and tinkles and bahadurs and chacha chaudharys).
TR: You sat and watched Vikram-Vetal? That awful, awful show? :-)
Yeah, I wasn't such a Chandamama fan either. Read a few though, but many more of Champaks and Targets and a few Amar Chitra Kathas. But, I wonder, do kids still read all these comics etc?
Is Blogger acting up again today?
TR, are we like the last generation of Champak/Nandan/Parag readers? :)) (Do kids still read them? Do they read anything at all?)
Ghost: The wig they put on Vetal's head in the TV show alone is worth the price of admission. It may have been an awful, awful show, but I couldn't stop watching it either!
Wasn't it Vikram Betal? I know I'm being stupidly nitpicky. I'm such a loser :(
J: Vetal, Betal, tom-a-to, tom-aah-to. Ahem, I am the Chairman Emeritus of Stupid Nitpickers' Club.
Wow its been 60 years since Chanda mama started?? im with mock turtle though, absolutely LOVE(D) amar chitra katha. I still have mine - ot all of them bound in one huge copy.
Do kids read anything these days? probably as an exception - definitely not the rule. Its quite sad to think of
Heh, kids with bound volumes of ACK were like Keepers of The Holy Grail :)
J: I think you're right, it was Vikram-Betal.
KM: Yeah, I remember the wig...ca anyone possibly forget that work of art! :-) Remember the song? Vikram-Vikram-Vikram...Betal-Betal
I'm sure the wretched Betal is going to come and haunt me tonight :-)
km, ghost:
yeah, that *wig*! it was all for that wig! and the laugh :-D i mean, who cared about the story -- i just watched the last two minutes of each episode :-D
szerelem, km:
heck yeah, i got *one* bunch of ACKs bound and felt like such a God after that.
keepers of the holy grail? really??
thats nice to know...my sister stumbled across my hard bound collection sometime back and wanted to get rid of it as there were no 'kids' in the house anymore!!! and shes just 13! see what i mean about kids today not reading anything?? (and trust me i have tried to make her read!).
Well its their loss anyway - they dont know of half of the cool Hindu mythological tales, those that are wayyy cooler than Harry Potter
szerelem: if only Indians had a mythological tale set in a boarding school....
km:
i have half a mind (the other half is occupied with the alcohol, given that it's 12:30 am) to suggest that we "interpret" something to fit this genre.
Er, not being alcohol-riddled right now, I gotta ask: which genre are we talking about and what is it that's being interpreted? (Indian mythological tale set in a boarding school?)
km:
heh, in the clear light of morning i can see how cunningly i left that open for, uh, interpretation ;-)
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