Friday, June 18, 2004
Makdee-man !?
Makdee-man, makdee-man, does whatever a makdee can!
Sounds familiar? Came across this bizarre bit of info today! (Am still debating if this is someone’s idea of a late April Fool’s joke?) Apparently Marvel Comics has decided to launch an Indian version of Spiderman! Instead of Peter Parker we’ll have Pavitr Prabhakar (oh the horror!) Wait, you think I’m kidding? Here’s the press release for you —
Bangalore, India (June 14, 2004) — Marvel Comics & Gotham Entertainment Group — Indian publishing licensee of Marvel Comics and the leading publisher of international comic magazines in South Asia — announces the launch of Spider-Man India.
Spider-Man India interweaves the local customs, culture and mystery of modern India, with an eye to making Spider-Man’s mythology more relevant to this particular audience. Readers of this series will not see the familiar Peter Parker of Queens under the classic Spider-Man mask, but rather a new hero — a young, Indian boy named Pavitr Prabhakar. As Spider-Man, Pavitr leaps around rickshaws and scooters in Indian streets, while swinging from monuments such as the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal.
Mumbai’s (Bombay’s) first web-swinging superhero will be joined by a reinterpretation of the classic Spider-Man villain, the Green Goblin — reinvented as a Rakshasa, an Indian mythological demon. “We feel this is one of the most exciting and unique projects in comic history,” said Gotham Entertainment Group CEO Sharad Devarajan. “Unlike traditional translations of American comics, Spider-Man India will become the first-ever ‘transcreation,’ where we reinvent the origin of a Western property like Spider-Man so that he is an Indian boy in Mumbai and dealing with local problems and challenges.”
And before you recover from that one, here’s some artwork of what’s about to hit us! (Sample above) Is it just me or is there something positively disturbing about the images?
Okay, I know there’s some merit in adapting something to reach a wider global audience and all that good stuff, but seriously, whatever happened to the purity of art? Or maybe the memory of watching Spiderman as a kid is too sacrosanct for me to mess with. (Remember Sunday evenings? The rach ki rachna, Rasna ad immediately followed by the Spiderman title music? Ah good memories!)
Am I being too unfair by mocking this? Hmm..
Gag! yuck..etc etc., Wish the real spiderman will rip the ridiculous dhoti of the decidedly phony desi spiderman!
If you wanna make a cartoon based on indian mythology and make some money why not go for vikramaditya, bheema, gadothkaja, and the millions of the supremly colorful and awe inspiring super heroes of indian folk lore…
I have to figure out a way of making arjuna launch a brahma astra against gotham’s main office…let their supposedly desi spiderman try to save it without tripping on his dhoti!
jai bajranga bali!
Friday, June 18, 2004 @ 7:47 PM
I share your horror.. Some originals are best left untouched..Spidey was one of my favoritestest (why dont they add these words) toons - n hey, when u tok rasna, all i can think of is that cute kid, Ankita Jhaveri (??) and her million dollar smile (sigh) Nostalgia…..The artwork just loaded and its positively hideous.. Gawd o Gawd !
Monday, June 21, 2004 @ 10:04 AM
Oh MY GAWD!!!!!!!!!
cant believe this is happening!!
what the hell!!…whoever is even dreaming of doing this should be sent to the asylum for putting the rest of the world through such torchure!
This used to be one of my favauritest cartoons on TV…imagine him jumping on walls with his dhoti, mojari and they might even add a turban next!!
urrrgggg!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, June 22, 2004 @ 2:56 AM
Is this the cute little smile that made your memories million dollars worth. Hope you won’t go bankrupt after looking at this.
http://www.idlebrain.com/images1/newpg-ankita17.jpg
Things will change, whether you like it or not. If your memories are weak enough to get blown by a breeze, then they are not worth hugging on to.
If you can’t imagine, then leave that to who can. A bad thought is better than a no thought.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004 @ 11:45 AM
About good old spidy, I am not sure many people in the cities in India still wear dhotis and carry lathis, so although the intention to indianise to is noble, the implementation has to be said is a bit flawed even a bit laughable. In the actual cartoon/script references to what actually makes an Indian boy in most cases, maniacal fervour for cricket,chat(the eating kind :)..not the speaking kind! ),movies etc would better server the purpose. Maybe the desi version could be a nerdy programmer trapped in his cubicle during the day who goes out to save the world in the night. Just random thoughts..
Btw speaking of Indian comic book heroes there are already many, chacha choudhary ? , sabu, Nagraj ! (is interesting because is also a manifestation of an animal, here ofcourse the animal in question being a snake), Bahadur, Ranjha, shaktimaan (recent super hit on doordarshan, played by bheeshma pitah maha :) ), tauji, chacha bhatija and so many others..
there was even a comic book which had amitabh bachchan as the world saver ! (he was called supremo)..I has one comic of supremo too in childhood..
and ofcourse very good point made about using the epics too ..
All this also reminds of the wonderful wonderful pockets of information that were Amar Chitra Khatas ..I have learnt so much of my Indian mythology and history through them ! :)
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 @ 1:36 AM
Hey anirudh,
I remember all these comics!!!..full nostalgia happening!
In fact have a copy of amr chitra katha at home right now..part of my bedtime story collections!!!!!
Gawd!!!…am gonna go and get myself a copy of tinkle right now!!…Suppandi rocks!:-))
Thursday, June 24, 2004 @ 8:20 AM
I agree that the effort to Indianize is noble, but slapping a dhoti on a dude wearing a spider-suit, changing Peter Parker to Pavitr Prabhakar, this isn’t what does it, in my opinion. The character should be someone Indian kids relate to more! Rather than a dhoti-clad kid jumping over the Qutb Minar, he should be a regular school/college kid, coping with the pressures of being a ‘normal’ kid in the day. As [Anirudh] suggests - maybe a nerdy programmer by day.. and someone with a name that isn’t so obviously trying to be a Peter Parker clone. In that light I am happier about the Green Goblin being Rakshasa. Scarier names like ‘Hara Haivaan’ could have happened :)
By donning a dhoti and jumping over the Taj Mahal and Gateway of India, I think the character caters to the stereoypes of India that float about in the west. Much along the lines of ‘oh yes! India is a land of snake charmers and we still use elephants in place of taxis!’ Perpetrating ludicrious stereotypes can be attributed to cluelessness when attempted by a non-Indian, but when its an India-collaborated stereotype, it bugs me more.
What [iii] said is also a very good point. When so many awe-inspiring, exciting characters exist in our own mythology and folk lore, why not use one of those instead? But my main issue still remains in the manner in which the character in being Indianized.
Ah Amar Chitra Kathas and Enid Blyton books! Childhood just wouldn’t be the same without those :)
Thursday, June 24, 2004 @ 1:46 PM
Thats a good point about the stereotype ..One of my colleagues in office(american) was asking me about this too.. I told him, the people who would actually read it dont wear dhotis and those who do will probably not have access to this comic anyways ! So I told him the same thing, I wonder why the comic creators are trying to promote a stereotype which is not even true, atleast as far as the cities are concerned.
Thursday, June 24, 2004 @ 4:01 PM
More updates on “makdee mard”
What is special about Pavitr Prabhakar,a mumbaikar
who is the nephew of Bhim and Maya, and has a
romantic interest in Meera Jain ?
Indian version of Spiderman…
Peter Parker = Pavitr Prabahakar
Uncle Ben = Uncle Bhim
Aunt May = Aunty Maya
Mary Jane = Meera Jain
Meera Jain :))
Friday, July 9, 2004 @ 9:17 AM
This gets worse by the minute! Meera Jain!?! *rotfl* Am still having trouble believing this is all for real!
Friday, July 9, 2004 @ 2:21 PM
what’s next?batman in a black lungi?yeah!!!that’ll scare the criminals away!!
Friday, August 20, 2004 @ 11:20 AM
[hunter rose] Shhh, don’t say it out too loud, else it might just happen! :)
Tuesday, August 31, 2004 @ 4:06 PM
so,when is this indian spiderman book coming out,dhoti and all?
Saturday, October 9, 2004 @ 12:08 PM
[hunter rose] I have no idea! The last this was in the news, they had only just started work on it, so maybe sometime by the end of the year? Your guess is as good as mine!
Thursday, October 14, 2004 @ 9:52 AM
The reasons why we (as a generation) don’t like makdee man are deeper than we think. I think some sort of reverse-Orientalisation may have taken place. I.e., just as the west used to look at the east as some mystical place … the east looks at the west as some sort of … not mystical but magical(?), fantastical place. Perhaps this is what prompts reactions like … “Ahh an Indian spiderman??! Just doesnt sound/seem right!”. Anybody see what the hell I be ramblin ’bout??
Sunday, July 31, 2005 @ 8:45 PM
[Anonymous] Am guessing you aren’t gonna come back to read this comment, but I’ll respond anyhoo :)
Now that’s an interesting way of looking at it but I really don’t think it’s a case of perceiving the West as a more magical mystical place. For me, Spidey is a part of my memories of childhood, and my resistance comes simply from my memories being messed with. A kid who is introduced to Spidey as someone wearing a dhoti might find it perfectly normal. But this kid who grew up watching Spidey cartoons sponsored by Rasna, cannot bring herself to accept him in a dhoti.
And then there’s my issue with the supposed Indianization. Put on a dhoti, make him jump over the Taj Mahal, and he’s become Indian? Aren’t we once again pandering to the West’s idea of Indian exotica?
Monday, August 29, 2005 @ 6:02 PM
*makdee-manav makdee-manav
pyaara padosi
yeh nahi danav.*
Upakhyana Tritiya
“Maya Moha Jaal”
Pavitr is doing some serious kheti baadi in a local farm in mumbai. His opening dialogue has the indian kids avidly hanging by his words for catch-ons and cult phrases which goes
“brrrrrr hie hie…gomti, birju…hal chalaoge to chara khaoge”. Post this intellectual rendition his landlord Jhamil Jaamsingh storms to the field and tears at his long turbaned hair “aaah…yeh makdee manav mujhe kahin ka nahin chodega. Mera khetva barbaad kardiya”
“ka hua? Usne tho kal rakshasva se bachaya”
Jaamsingh pulls out a few strands of his moustache, no not the occidental toothbrush one but an aesthetically-curling-at-its-tips-and-nicely-chameli-oiled one.
” Meri gaayi doodhva dene se mana kar rahi hai…makdi manav ne use daraa diya. Shahar jaakar naye gayi bakri ke photoo lao”
The discerning indian 4th standarder will not miss the intuitive glint in Pavitr’s bumpkin eyes.
Cut to top of Gate Way of India.
Makdee Manav surveys the busy landscape below him, the rolling arabian sea, the steady influx of foreigners dressed in baniyans and shorts but sporting large tilaks or bindis, couples doing very couply stuff by the shade.
“Aaaaah” …a chilling scream of dismay, fading into frightened submission.
His auditory reflexes tuned for maximum throughput, the cry for help doesnt go amiss. Bounding lightly from one crumbling chawl to uneven skyscarper and catching his loosely hanging dhoti on a couple of jutting clothes line, hurling some chosen hindi expletives, releasing it, tucking in the extra bit o’ cloth safely somewhere unmentionable, he skirts the busy traffic to reach lithely- The Jehangir Art Gallery from whence the plea for rescue ensued.
Crawling on the roof unnoticed he finds that the commotion was afterall just a woman caught unawares by a life size MF Hussain women’s special. Not again…he mutters.
BOOM !! Explosion near the Chattrapathi Shivaji Terminus station. A green rakshas sporting demonic dhoti cut piece in a suitable verdant hue is creating pot holes on the freshly tarred roads.
A complex series of dhishooms and bhishooms, ray guns and makdi jaals, evil laughter and heroic dialogues later makdi manav is back as pavitr to his khet with prospective gaayi bhens photos for Jaamsingh.
Enter Maya Jain.
“Arre…pavitr….iyaan su kares? ” she quips in a gujrati accent. He gives her a once over…she looks ravishing in that Ghagra Choli with sparkling single-plaited hair embellished with a pink ribbon.
“Meera…mhaare saath sahar chalogi. Dhabeli khilaoonga. ”
Meera blushes in a very Indian “istri” way and they make progress to MunnaBhai Ka Dhaaba on their favorite mode of preferred Indian transport “Chotu” their pet elephant. Having watched a local snakecharmer and tantrik performance they hold hands and perform some very Indian yoga step cum dance routine on chowpatty and then move off to their farmland.
“Baa bom maregi.” she confides her anxiety.”Hanh! Here’s one more thought for the day. Manne makdi manav bau saru lage che”
Pavitr looks at her wistfully. How truly madly deeply he had fallen for her.
Kya pavitr sach much maya ke moh jaal mein phas gaya hai?
Kya Rakshas dobara aayega aur Bhai ke bhes mein hafta vasooli karega?
Dekhiya agla ang is karyakram ka agle hafte. Isi din isi samay.
P.S. :Meghs as it must be obvious now I have a commentspace-eating syndrome. Saari. Its a one off thing when i am really moved by something.
Saturday, February 18, 2006 @ 9:00 AM