“The age of superheroes is catching up in India.”
“Krrish is first modern day example of Indian superheroes”
“Ohhh, we have to long time to go before we have our own Spiderman or Superman”
Heard these often? Well, I have too but it makes me wonder do we actually don’t have superheroes? Is the era superheroes yet to catch up on us??
And suddenly it dawns on me–NO. Indian superheroes are far older than Hollywood, Bollywood or even Christ!
Well, let us list out a few basic characteristics of superheroes
–>They have superhuman powers
–>They appear and disappear at will
–>They usually work for the betterment of human life
–>Disguise is a part of their personality
–>They have some enemy or dark force that they fight and mostly defeat
Well now Spiderman, Superman, etc. have this all but has it ever struck you that Krishna, Ram, Hanuman, Vishnu, etc. too have it all??
Amazing but we have been programmed to see superheroes only as people with blond hair, blue eyes, fair skin and unreal costumes (i would truly want to meet the costume designer of Superman who designed the underwear-which-is-not-worn-under). It has never struck us that we didn’t need the bollywood badshahs to help us take a fantasy leap. Our ancestors have taken it centuries before the West even learnt to spell f-a-n-t-a-n-s-y!
Let’s understand the powers of our superheroes.
Hanuman has the capacity to fly, fight an an entire nation ( Lanka), carry mountains and still be humble. He saves Lord Ram’s brother by flying with a huge mountain on his back.
Krishna, the master of all superheroes has all the acts of magic to his credit. He can create a silhoutte against the Sun when need be and even remove it with one sweep of hand, can take over devils like Putna as an infant, save thousands from flood (Govardhan Parvat), and of course fight and defeat the evil whether it is Kans or Kauravs.
Ram, the epitome of human-superheroes he has to his credit the incredible fantasy of having rocks float over water just because they had ‘Ram’ inscribed over them. He had the powers to call for wind, sun and rain with his bow and arrow and of course the capacity to fight for nine long days with unqualified soldiers against a mighty army and still come out victorious.
Bhim, Arjun, Bhishma, and scores of other characters in Mahabharata and other mythological works provided (and do so even today) the excitement and zing that humans always needed. Whether it is through the creation of a utopian place (the satyug) or the fear of losing the loved ones or just the unleashed force of creativity. India has never been without superheroes. It’s just that our superheroes have become too super and we now don’t just have their posters in our homes we even have temples built for them.
So, we are miles ahead in the race of superheroes. Every mythological story ever written whether it is the Jai Santoshi Maa or the Jai Shakumbhari Maa, it has the element of superheroes. And don’t forget India has more superwomen or superheroines than what Hollywood has yet to think of.
So, pat your backs and be proud. We are not only far ahead in thinking of superheroes but even in dressing them up. We don’t need chuddies over pants to take millions by fantasy.
What do you say?? Do let me know how wrong right am i on my take on superheroes.
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December 2nd, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Good one!
Bet most ppl din even think of it this way 
December 2nd, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I think to become superheroes- a la superman or spiderman in west- the character needs to be completely unreal and created out of blue. The characters you mentioned are not unreal and are part of Indian mythology..You cannot create superheroes from these supposedly real people..it may cause lot of problems in trying to mass merchandise them in comics or movies..
December 4th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Hi lallopallo,
I think I am not very clear in my post, what I am trying to say is not that we create superheroes out of Ram or Krishna but I am drawing attention to the fact that we already have them as superheroes.
That Indians didn’t need the movies or say cinema to make them see something superhuman. The Indian scriptures and mythology is rich with such experiences.
And hence we have the dearth of modern superheroes. And as far as mythological character being unreal goes, I would say they definitely are. Talk of Ravana with 10 heads or Durga with multiple hands or Hanuman with monkey-like face, we have hundreds of so called unreal stuff!!
December 6th, 2007 at 1:28 am
Hi minal..
well As per my understanding we always considered them as our god..having super human qualities..The greeks too have their rich mythology..but can we take them as super heros?
I really dont care about Superheroes and their importance in society..During my childhood ..i read ample of ChaCha chaudri,Sabu,Parmanu,Nagraj..i think those were my superheros along wid the likes of HE-MAN…but that was long back..Currently my superhero is SANJAY DUTT
December 6th, 2007 at 11:29 am
I never thought of these characters as superheroes but now that you point it out, I guess they are. But frankly I can identify better with say superman than Hanuman for example as superman is in human form! But well the actor may be white but he does have dark hair!
And also one tends to associate these mythology characters with religion, which automatically means reverence while superheroes are always treated a little more irreverently, in the sense they can be adored and well, they seem nearer to us than godly figures.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Hey Nitin,
My contention is just as similar as urs. The fact that our superheroes are soo old that we have started to see them as Gods! Basically what i am trying to say is that we have not lacked fantasies. We always had them due to our diverse and rich mythology.
To me they are superheroes!
And about Chacha Chowdhari and Sabu … vow i too grew up with them and trust me miss them at times!
December 6th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Nita, true our superheroes have become religious but just try and leave the religion part aside and then tell me, aren’t our superheroes more interesting with more tricks under their hat than what we see in hollywood??
I personally feel so.
February 1st, 2008 at 4:34 am
Agreed! But creating super heroes out of mythology might hurt people’s sentiments….
May 11th, 2008 at 8:24 am
i think that we need to revive our superheroes like nagraj & dhruva