Villainy in graphic glory

India's most well-known bad guy, Gabbar Singh, is immortalised in a new graphic novel

The true test of a Sholay fanatic can be judged with a simple question. Does he or she know the name of Gabbar Singh’s father? Gabbar is an iconic character who has been immortalised due to excellent lines written by Salim-Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar) and most people think that they really know Gabbar. Be it the bounty on his head or how mothers put the fear of Gabbar in children reluctant to sleep, it’s all known, right? Well, Sharad Devrajan, CEO, Graphic India, has other ideas. Along with Sacha Vijay Sippy, chairman of Sholay Media Entertainment, Devrajan has launched a graphic novel on India’s best-known villain.

Titled Gabbar, the graphic novel delves into the life of the villain and tells you why he became what he was. It actually begins with Gabbar being in jail and meeting a journalist who wants to learn about the life of a dacoit and how his mind works. Then we are introduced to Gabbar as a boy living with his father in the Chambal Valley, where bandits rule the roost. What follows over the next few pages is the story of a young boy growing up surrounded by bandits and how he chooses to follow a path of notoriety.

It’s a well-designed graphic novel and the characters look pretty lively. The artists have done a good job in creating a young Gabbar. The writing is decent but the story, while promising to be fascinating, doesn’t manage to hold your attention for too long. Written by Saurav Mahapatra, the story does flow quite well but some of the lines lose their punch. Perhaps it is because of the language used: English.  

Mahapatra, however, says that his biggest challenge was to not make Gabbar a victim of circumstances. He compares Gabbar to the Joker, the raucous villain in the Batman series, even as he tries hard not to justify Gabbar’s innate evil. It’s a 112-page graphic novel and for all Sholay fans it will certainly be a good read about the background story of the film. It is certainly a brave book as it’s not easy to tell a story of a man whom you supposedly know all about. Devrajan says that with Gabbar they wanted to ask whether evil is born or made. “And Gabbar is as evil as they come,” he says.

Another graphic novel has been also launched, this one on the film Sholay. You can also find a series of Sholay Shorts in this novel which are based on other characters of the movie — like Soorma Bhopali, Thakur Baldev Singh and other characters.

Devrajan says that there is a market for such graphic novels but the stories have to be unique.

“We can’t just come out with novels on every film. They have to have a story which needs to be told. And they don’t come bigger than Sholay,” he says. He says that such ideas will be explored in the future as well but it’s a bit too early to talk about. A comic series on Gabbar is also available in episodic form on the mobile platform but that goes online at the end of this month.

Read Gabbar. It offers an intrigue to the story of Sholay. And it brings back memories. For those who haven’t seen the most iconic film in Indian history, the graphic novel can certainly be a starting point. And yes, that’s one place where you’d find the name of Gabbar’s father.