Bahadur (Comic character)

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Bahadur
Publisher Indrajal Comics First appearance 1978 Created by Abid Surti
Characteristics Affiliations Citizen's Security Force, Mukhia (local village headman), Lakhan, Sukhia (police officer[1],   Notable aliases The Brave Abilities None

Bahadur (meaning The Brave) was the name of a comic book hero published by Indrajal Comics and created by Aabid Surti in 1978. Aabid Surti was at that time freelancing for Bennett Coleman & Co.. After he moved on, Jagjit Uppal took over the task. The artwork was illustrated by Govind Brahmania^[2] and later by B Pramod.

The comics were published in various languages including Hindi, English and Bengali. Besides regular comics, the series was also featured in dailies and weeklies along with other comic heroes.

Contents 1 Characters 1.1 Bahadur 1.2 Citizen's Security Force 1.3 Bela 1.4 Others 2 Evolution 3 References

[edit] Characters

[edit] Bahadur

The comic strip was created in 1978. Dacoity was at its worst in India in 1970s^[3] and the Bahadur series focussed a lot on dacoits.^[4]

Bahadur himself was the son of a dacoit Vairab Singh, who died in combat with the Police. Bahadur, then a teenager, was adopted by Vishal, the police officer who shot Vairab Singh.^[5]

[edit] Citizen's Security Force

Upon growing up, Bahadur set up the Citizen's Security Force that aids the police in combating dacoits. Though Bahadur dealt with many kinds of villains, he displayed a much softer corner towards dacoits trying to rehabilitate them.^[6] One of his assistants Lakhan was also a reformed dacoit. After surrendering to the police, he started helping Bahadur in curbing crime.

[edit] Bela

Bela is Bahadur's love interest in the comic series and very skilled in martial arts. She assists Bahadur in his missions against the villains.

[edit] Others

The other prominent characters featuring regularly in the series were Sukhiya, Mukhiya and Lakhan. While Sukhiya was a policeman, Mukhiya (meaning head of the village in Hindi) was the village leader.

Bahadur also got a dog in some of the later stories.

[edit] Evolution

The stories evolved with time and portrayed the changing face of India. While beginning with dacoits in deep ravines and the small town of Jaigarh, Bahadur later moved to tackling themes such as espionage. The town itself moved from being a small sleepy town to a modern city.

Though Bahadur's portrayal also changed with time as the artists drawing the series changed, the color of his dress remained the same. The only change was that from an orange kurta, he moved to wearing a T shirt.

[edit] References

1. ^ Internationalhero.co.uk. Retrieved on September 23, 2006.
2. ^ Aabid Surti's website. Retrieved on September 23, 2006.
3. ^ Flonnet.com. Retrieved on September 23, 2006.
4. ^ NASSCOM Animation summit. Retrieved on September 23, 2006.
5. ^ Ipcomics website. Retrieved on September 23, 2006.
6. ^ Hindu.com. Retrieved on September 23, 2006.