Narayan Debnath
Encyclopedia
Narayan Debnathis the creator of popular Bengali
comics including Batul The Great
, Handa Bhonda
and Nonte Phonte
. Having contributed to the early development of Bangla comics and its growth in a career spanning more than fifty years, he is still read in West Bengal
, India
and Bangladesh
. Apart from comic book
s and strips
, Narayan Debnath is also an artist who has illustrated several children's novels. Many of his comics are serialized in popular children’s magazines published from Kolkata
including Shuktara and Kishor Bharati
, Howrah, India
. His family hailed from Bikrampur
in what is now Bangladesh
but had migrated to Shibpur
before his birth. In an interview with the Bangla magazine Parabaas, published online in 2001, Debnath confessed to being interested in the visual arts from a very early age. The family business was retailing gold and he had ample scope to design patterns for jewelry. Around the time of World War II
, Debnath would study fine arts at the Indian Art College for five years. He did not continue to get his degree but instead discontinued in his final year. For the next few years he freelanced for advertising agencies creating movie slides and logos.
He was introduced to Dev Sahitya Kuthir, a major publishing house through a friend. People such as Pratul Chandra Banerjee, Shailo Chakraborty, Balaibandhu Roy, and Purnachandra Chakraborti were associated with the press at the time. Initially he illustrated a number of children’s books including adventure novels and Western classics in translation.
came from the editors at Dev Sahitya Kutir. Also the name Handa Bhonda was their suggestion. Debnath had been familiar with foreign made comics but comics in Bengali had, to his admission, yet to take off. Shiyal Pandit [শিয়াল পণ্ডিত], a comic strip created by Pratulchandra Lahiri for the Jugantar
newspaper was one of the earliest ones. Handa-Bhonda became an instant success and continues to be printed in Shuktara every month . Handa-Bhonda was initially penciled and inked by Debnath and had no colored frames. Later it would be printed in grayscale.
Narayan Debnath’s first comic characters in color were for the comic strip and book Batul The Great
. By Debnath’s admission, he thought up the idea of the superhero while returning from College Street, Calcutta
. The name came to him instantly and he thought up the figure of the protagonist rapidly. Initially, he did not know what he foresaw as a future for Batul and did not give him any superpowers
.
, closely associated with the Bangladesh War of Liberation flared up, he was asked by the editors and publishers to add an aura of invincibility. Debnath was reluctant at first because he was worried about legal implications. On assurance, he made Batul a superhero able to take on tanks, airplanes, and missiles. Bullets began to bounce off of him as in the case of Superman
. Batul is still drawn by Debnath for Shuktara.
Later, Debnath was approached by Kishor Bharati for a Durga Puja special issue. The noted writer Premendra Mitra was editor at the time. Later, when Dinesh Chandra Chatterjee became editor, Debnath was asked to convert to strip form a detective thriller that he was writing. This metamorphosed into Black Diamond Indrajit Roy. The first serial strip that Debnath began to create for the Kishore Bharati monthly issues was Potolchand The Magician, which ran for about three issues. It seemed as if Dinesh Chatterjee was looking for something along the lines of Handa-Bhonda. Although not in the same mould, Nonte Phonte
was born deriving inspiration from Handa Bhonda. Quickly, it developed into a separate storyline and also became published in comic book form.
His other creations include detective Koushik Roy for the Shuktara cover and Bahadur Beral (The Daring Cat). Neither of these are regularly published.
, Batul the Great
and Nonte Phonte
have been published since the early 80’s. Since the late 90’s, the Nonte Phonte
comics have been anthologized and published in softcover format. From 2003 onwards, the earlier comics have been re-inked and published in full-color, Recently, Debnath gave permission for animation film based on the characters from Batul, Handa Bhonda
and Nonte Phonte
, and these provide access to the original stories to a whole new generation of children.
Though his comic characters have immense popularity, Narayan Debnath himself has rather lived reclusively, distancing himself from publicity and media.
and Bantul
the Great are animated shows today, while a television series called Handa Bhonda
was briefly on air.
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
comics including Batul The Great
Batul The Great
Batul, Bantul, or Batul the Great ,or Bantul the Great , is a popular Bengali comic strip character created by Narayan Debnath. It first appeared and still appears in a children's magazine called Shuktara and is widely read, not only by children but by adults as well...
, Handa Bhonda
Handa Bhonda
Handa Bhonda , also referred to as Hada Bhoda is a Bangla comic-strip creation of Narayan Debnath which originally was serialized for the children's monthly magazine Shuktara. The comics have appeared in book form...
and Nonte Phonte
Nonte Phonte
Nonte Phonte , also spelled as Nonte Fonte, is a Bangla comic-strip creation of Narayan Debnath which originally was serialized for the children's monthly magazine Kishore Bharati...
. Having contributed to the early development of Bangla comics and its growth in a career spanning more than fifty years, he is still read in West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. Apart from comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s and strips
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
, Narayan Debnath is also an artist who has illustrated several children's novels. Many of his comics are serialized in popular children’s magazines published from Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
including Shuktara and Kishor Bharati
Early life
Narayan Debnath was born and spent most of his life living in ShibpurShibpur
Shibpur is a residential area located in the city of Howrah, West Bengal, India. It is well known for being the location of the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, the Bengal Engineering College and the Hazar Hath Kaali Temple. The famous Bengali linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji...
, Howrah, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. His family hailed from Bikrampur
Bikrampur
Bikrampur pargana is situated 12 miles south of Dhaka, the modern-day capital of Bangladesh. It lies in the Munshiganj District of Bangladesh. It is a historic region in Bengal. The region is famous for its early Buddhist scholarships and in the later period for its cultural influences...
in what is now Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
but had migrated to Shibpur
Shibpur
Shibpur is a residential area located in the city of Howrah, West Bengal, India. It is well known for being the location of the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, the Bengal Engineering College and the Hazar Hath Kaali Temple. The famous Bengali linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji...
before his birth. In an interview with the Bangla magazine Parabaas, published online in 2001, Debnath confessed to being interested in the visual arts from a very early age. The family business was retailing gold and he had ample scope to design patterns for jewelry. Around the time of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Debnath would study fine arts at the Indian Art College for five years. He did not continue to get his degree but instead discontinued in his final year. For the next few years he freelanced for advertising agencies creating movie slides and logos.
He was introduced to Dev Sahitya Kuthir, a major publishing house through a friend. People such as Pratul Chandra Banerjee, Shailo Chakraborty, Balaibandhu Roy, and Purnachandra Chakraborti were associated with the press at the time. Initially he illustrated a number of children’s books including adventure novels and Western classics in translation.
Introduction to comics
The suggestion to work in comics in BengaliBengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
came from the editors at Dev Sahitya Kutir. Also the name Handa Bhonda was their suggestion. Debnath had been familiar with foreign made comics but comics in Bengali had, to his admission, yet to take off. Shiyal Pandit [শিয়াল পণ্ডিত], a comic strip created by Pratulchandra Lahiri for the Jugantar
Jugantar
Jugantar or Yugantar was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence.This association, like Anushilan Samiti started in the guise of suburban fitness club. Several Jugantar members were arrested, hanged, or deported for life to the Cellular Jail in...
newspaper was one of the earliest ones. Handa-Bhonda became an instant success and continues to be printed in Shuktara every month . Handa-Bhonda was initially penciled and inked by Debnath and had no colored frames. Later it would be printed in grayscale.
Narayan Debnath’s first comic characters in color were for the comic strip and book Batul The Great
Batul The Great
Batul, Bantul, or Batul the Great ,or Bantul the Great , is a popular Bengali comic strip character created by Narayan Debnath. It first appeared and still appears in a children's magazine called Shuktara and is widely read, not only by children but by adults as well...
. By Debnath’s admission, he thought up the idea of the superhero while returning from College Street, Calcutta
College Street (Kolkata)
College Street is a street in north Calcutta. It stretches from Bowbazar to Mahatma Gandhi road crossing. It houses many centres of intellectual activity in the city...
. The name came to him instantly and he thought up the figure of the protagonist rapidly. Initially, he did not know what he foresaw as a future for Batul and did not give him any superpowers
Superpower (ability)
Superpower is a popular culture term for a fictional superhuman ability. When a character possesses multiple such abilities, the terms super powers or simply powers are used...
.
Development of the genre
When the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian, Bangladeshi and international sources consider the beginning of the war to be Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's December 3, 1971 pre-emptive strike on 11 Indian airbases...
, closely associated with the Bangladesh War of Liberation flared up, he was asked by the editors and publishers to add an aura of invincibility. Debnath was reluctant at first because he was worried about legal implications. On assurance, he made Batul a superhero able to take on tanks, airplanes, and missiles. Bullets began to bounce off of him as in the case of Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
. Batul is still drawn by Debnath for Shuktara.
Later, Debnath was approached by Kishor Bharati for a Durga Puja special issue. The noted writer Premendra Mitra was editor at the time. Later, when Dinesh Chandra Chatterjee became editor, Debnath was asked to convert to strip form a detective thriller that he was writing. This metamorphosed into Black Diamond Indrajit Roy. The first serial strip that Debnath began to create for the Kishore Bharati monthly issues was Potolchand The Magician, which ran for about three issues. It seemed as if Dinesh Chatterjee was looking for something along the lines of Handa-Bhonda. Although not in the same mould, Nonte Phonte
Nonte Phonte
Nonte Phonte , also spelled as Nonte Fonte, is a Bangla comic-strip creation of Narayan Debnath which originally was serialized for the children's monthly magazine Kishore Bharati...
was born deriving inspiration from Handa Bhonda. Quickly, it developed into a separate storyline and also became published in comic book form.
His other creations include detective Koushik Roy for the Shuktara cover and Bahadur Beral (The Daring Cat). Neither of these are regularly published.
Selected creations
- Handa BhondaHanda BhondaHanda Bhonda , also referred to as Hada Bhoda is a Bangla comic-strip creation of Narayan Debnath which originally was serialized for the children's monthly magazine Shuktara. The comics have appeared in book form...
, also referred to as Hada Bhoda, Handa-Bhonda and Hada-Bhoda [হাঁদা ভোঁদা] - Batul The GreatBatul The GreatBatul, Bantul, or Batul the Great ,or Bantul the Great , is a popular Bengali comic strip character created by Narayan Debnath. It first appeared and still appears in a children's magazine called Shuktara and is widely read, not only by children but by adults as well...
, also referred to as Bantul The Great [বাঁটুল দি গ্রেট] - Nonte PhonteNonte PhonteNonte Phonte , also spelled as Nonte Fonte, is a Bangla comic-strip creation of Narayan Debnath which originally was serialized for the children's monthly magazine Kishore Bharati...
, also spelled as Nonte Fonte, Nonte-Phonte, and Nonte-Fonte [নন্টে ফন্টে] - Black Diamond Indrajit Roy [ব্ল্যাক ডায়মন্ড ইন্দ্রজিৎ রায়]
- Potolchand The Magician
- Koushik Roy [কৌশিক রায়]
- Bahadur Beral [বাহাদুর বেরাল]
- Katus Kutus [কাটুস কুটুস]
- Lalu Bhulu [লালু ভুলু]
- Daanpite Khandu Ar Tar Chemical Dadu [ডানপিঠে খাঁদু আর তার কেমিক্যাল দাদু]
Popularity
Collections of Debnath’s comics have been published serially in Shuktara and Kishor Bharati. His comic books featuring Handa BhondaHanda Bhonda
Handa Bhonda , also referred to as Hada Bhoda is a Bangla comic-strip creation of Narayan Debnath which originally was serialized for the children's monthly magazine Shuktara. The comics have appeared in book form...
, Batul the Great
Batul The Great
Batul, Bantul, or Batul the Great ,or Bantul the Great , is a popular Bengali comic strip character created by Narayan Debnath. It first appeared and still appears in a children's magazine called Shuktara and is widely read, not only by children but by adults as well...
and Nonte Phonte
Nonte Phonte
Nonte Phonte , also spelled as Nonte Fonte, is a Bangla comic-strip creation of Narayan Debnath which originally was serialized for the children's monthly magazine Kishore Bharati...
have been published since the early 80’s. Since the late 90’s, the Nonte Phonte
Nonte Phonte
Nonte Phonte , also spelled as Nonte Fonte, is a Bangla comic-strip creation of Narayan Debnath which originally was serialized for the children's monthly magazine Kishore Bharati...
comics have been anthologized and published in softcover format. From 2003 onwards, the earlier comics have been re-inked and published in full-color, Recently, Debnath gave permission for animation film based on the characters from Batul, Handa Bhonda
Handa Bhonda
Handa Bhonda , also referred to as Hada Bhoda is a Bangla comic-strip creation of Narayan Debnath which originally was serialized for the children's monthly magazine Shuktara. The comics have appeared in book form...
and Nonte Phonte
Nonte Phonte
Nonte Phonte , also spelled as Nonte Fonte, is a Bangla comic-strip creation of Narayan Debnath which originally was serialized for the children's monthly magazine Kishore Bharati...
, and these provide access to the original stories to a whole new generation of children.
Though his comic characters have immense popularity, Narayan Debnath himself has rather lived reclusively, distancing himself from publicity and media.
Television
Most of Narayan Debnath's work has been adapted for Bengali television. Nonte PhonteNonte Phonte
Nonte Phonte , also spelled as Nonte Fonte, is a Bangla comic-strip creation of Narayan Debnath which originally was serialized for the children's monthly magazine Kishore Bharati...
and Bantul
Bantul
Bantul is a town and the capital of Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia.-2006 Earthquake:On 27 May 2006 an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale struck near Java's southern coast causing widespread damage. Bantul Regency was the region most affected by the disaster...
the Great are animated shows today, while a television series called Handa Bhonda
Handa Bhonda
Handa Bhonda , also referred to as Hada Bhoda is a Bangla comic-strip creation of Narayan Debnath which originally was serialized for the children's monthly magazine Shuktara. The comics have appeared in book form...
was briefly on air.
External links
- Read Bantul, Hada Bhoda and Nonte Phonte comics created by Narayan Debnath on the internet
- http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071111/asp/calcutta/story_8533502.asp
- Read Batul comic series
- Read Nante Fante comic series
- Find Bangla comics online