No laughing matter
Twenty three-year-old Adhiraj Singh chose to take his sense of humour and talent for writing to another level by penning comic books which speak about the ills in the society, but with a generous helping of humour.
In Adhiraj’s first book, Uud Bilaw Manus, “Otter-Human” is fighting evil in order to keep the world safe. Uud Bilaw Manus is the superhero that Indians had been waiting for. He’s a good son, an honest citizen, and also speaker of an Indian language.
And now Adhiraj’s second book Widhwa Ma Andhi Behen, about an old-school, fast-talking, hard-walking crime-fighting duo, is due to be released this month at Comic Con Express in Mumbai.
Adhiraj, who thinks he’s just an ordinary youngster in love with books and films, explains that his books have a strong undercurrent of his central message — that hard work and good intentions, applied wisely, can overcome “evil” and adversity. “But I make sure that the humour remains intact because it’s the heart of a comic book,” says Adhiraj, who works as a creative producer with a media house.
Even as a child, Adhiraj, like any other kid his age, was in love with the world of comics and cartoons. “But I would also draw comics for myself,” he adds.
“So it didn’t take much effort for me to jump with joy when Comic Con provided me a platform to showcase my work. I am glad that I now have more talented artists draw comics with my writings,” he says.
But is humour the only reason that he chose a comic format? “Comics have always been a mass-market medium, and are a good tool to spread awareness about social issues. Even graphic novels, which are still very niche, can be used very effectively to bring sidelined issues and problems to light in a manner that the average person could find appealing,” he says.
Juggling his full-fledged career with his passion entails some time management. But since his job involves a lot of ideation, there is never a dearth of stories. “As a writer, comics could take a varying amount of time depending on the amount of detail one is working with. Some four-page stories from Widhwa Ma Andhi Behen have only taken a couple days for me to write. Serious comics take a week or even longer,” he says, adding, “There are a couple other books in the pipeline, one much more serious than what I’ve published so far, and one keeping with the same sort of chaotic humorous tone I’ve kept with my comics so far.”
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