A Spiritual Turn

Legendary graphic artist Stan Lee has explored the concept of tantric energy for his first Indian superhero,Chakra.

As a child,Sharad Devarajan was a huge fan of Stan Lees comics. Like others his age,he grew up reading the adventures of Spider-Man,The Hulk,Iron Man,The Fantastic Four and other superheroes. It inspired him to launch his own start-up,Graphics India,a company that creates desi comics such as the webcomic 18 Days based on the battle of Kurukshetra from the Mahabharata and Ramayan 3392 AD. Early this year,when his idol Lee approached Graphics India to create Chakra The Invincible,Devarajan was ecstatic.

It took several brainstorming sessions before Lee arrived at the script for Chakra,a superhero who would derive his powers from the Indian spiritual concept of chakras or the energy centres in the body. The comic follows the adventures of Raju Rai,a 14-year-old from Mumbai who unlocks the powers of seven internal chakras to fight the baddies, says Devarajan. An orphan,Raju lives with his elder brother Sandeep who works so that his sibling can go to school. In his spare time,Raju also assists Doctor Singh,a scientist,in his laboratory,who builds him a suit to access the chakras and beat the citys villains,Boss Yama and Shatru Seth.

The series sees Raju unlock the seven chakras to unleash his seven superpowers pure consciousness,intuition,communication and response,compassion,confidence,creativity and sense of belonging. But the superpowers dont come easy to him. It is the story about Rajus struggle to achieve this state of power over himself,a power that comes with supreme control, Devarajan explains.

Set around a science-meets-spirituality scenario,Chakra displays a sense of consciousness about Indian society,much like Lees previous characters and their settings. One gets to see Mumbais busy streets with black and yellow Padmini taxis inching their way on a crowded street where Chakra is in battle with the villains jumping over local trains.

We have tried capturing the nuances of the city. Raju is just a kid who loves playing cricket on a dusty ground and runs off to eat gulabjamuns. The way he talks,his reactions and even the problems he faces such as poverty,education,security s hould help connect with Indian audiences, Devarajan adds.

Of his choice of setting,Lee says Raju could have belonged only to Mumbai. It is one of the most exciting and action-packed cities in the world and the perfect bustling metropolis for our hero to be based in, says Lee. Just as some of my other characters have swung from the rooftops of New York and other major American cities,for Chakra,we wanted to bring the excitement of Mumbai to audiences worldwide.

An 80-minute movie based on Chakra The Invincible will be launched on Cartoon Network in November in an episodic format. Lee and Devarajan plan to release the comic book early next year. Co-producer of the series with Devarajan and in-charge of character design and graphics,Jeevan Kang believes that Chakra will hit it off with Indian as well as international audiences. Chakra is the story of an ordinary boy who with or without his powers finds the strength in himself to become extraordinary; all with an impish smirk on his face and a wisecrack for every situation, says Kang.

amruta.lakhe@expressindia.com

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