Screen saga to page turner: Bahubali takes toon avatar

Bahubali, the death-defying, swash-buckling prince of the ancient kingdom of Mahishmati, has made another dramatic leap -from screen epic to page-turner comic. The blockbuster (raked in more than ‘300 crore for its distributors) Telugu-Tamil bilingual, directed by S S Rajamouli, is the first movie from south India to be made into a comic series -although the 2011 Telugu film ‘Anaganaga O Dheerudu’ was the first film from the southern region to have its screenplay recreated as a standalone comic book.

“I see the film Bahubali as a mere three feet of a 1,000 foot iceberg,“ says Sharad Devarajan, co-founder of Graphics India who is working on the cartoon avatar of the film. Rajamouli has also on earlier occasions stated that there is much more to the story and legend of Bahubali than could be captured in his three-hour film or its sequel in the making.

“We will have digital and print comics of Bahubali. This not just a promotion for the film, the series, which should be published by July, explores storylines with various characters,“ says Devarajan, who adds that he sees a ‘Star Wars’ like comic franchise format in ‘Bahubali’.

While the concept of movies turning into comics has not fully caught on in Kollywood there are a few directors who are giving it a shot. Filmmaker Nandhini JS for instance has just turned her screenplay ‘Sivappu Kal Mookuthi’ or ‘Girl with the Red Nose Ring into a comic series. Another film that she had begun shoot ing for in 2014, titled ‘Kolai Nokku Paarvai’ (With murder in sight) got shelved for lack of finances, so she turned it into a comic book series called ‘In spector Rishi’. The popularity of the comic has helped her revive plans for the film.

“I didn’t want to let my idea of a detective thriller go to waste just because I didn’t have funds. But now that the digital comic series is picking up momentum, there is inter est in making it into a movie,“ says Nandhini, who directed the film Thiru Thiru Thuru Thuru in 2009. “In Hollywood, almost every film and TV se ries has a comic avatar, even the romantic comedies. We have the readers for it, we just need a little more foresight,“ she says.

While the idea of movies being turned into comics is still more in thought than action, comic book creator Vishwanathan Devraj says in the past, movie icons have been turned into cartoon strips. “In the 1960s, comics were created on matinee idol and former chief minister M G Ramachandran” says Devraj, who heads comic syndicate Tamil Comic Ulagam.