Creations of Narayan Debnath in Animated Form |
My Humble Respect Toward great Sir Narayan Debnath who is the "Father of Bengali Comics" |
In Our Childhood time when I was first introduced to the Wonderful world of Comics through the "Batul The Great" and "Handa Bhonda" I was just amazed with the superhero act of Batul The great and at the same time I laughed on the mischievous act of the Handa towards the Bhonda. Both Comics were published in Sukhtara Magazine printed by Dev Sahitya Kuthir. Those Simple comics without any touch of science-fiction was so great that even after all those years in the modern computer age these comics have same entertainment appeal among bengali people. Therefore recently published "NARAYAN DEBNATH COMICS-SAMAGRA" (vol 1 & 2) is still best seller books in Bengal.
Sir Narayan Debnath single handedly introduced bengali childrens with the "Wonderful world of Comics". Bengali Children Have their own Version of Superhero "Batul The Great" Compare to Superman , Batman, Spiderman etc. "Handa Bhonda" and "Nonte Fonte" were Bengali`s own version of Social Comics Like Archies and Garfield etc.
Storylines of his comics were so simple that it inspired from our daily bengali life (Like our attarctions toward delicious Fish and sweets items), The mischievous but also sweet act of small teenage children. Universal and simple appeal of these Comics Characters attarcts not only small children but also their parents at these Jet age. I always felt Nostalgic about my Childhood days whenever I read those comics till today. Sir Narayan Debnath have a great role on my love towards comics and animation.
I Think he speard the Great Philosophic Message through his comics that " Lead life in a Simple way and enjoy it ". In India after Chacha Chowdhury , Batul The Great and Handa Bhonda is the most polpular Comics .
I show my Humble Respect towards Sir Narayan Debnath (Father of Bengali Comics) through This article and 3D Cartoon pictures which were created by me in the 3D Max Software.
Sir Narayan Debnath Cartoon genius Live a very Simple Life away from media and publicity |
Narayan Debnath (Bengali: নারায়ণ দেবনাথ) :
is the creator of popular Bengali comics including ‘Handa Bhonda’ (in Shuktara from 1962), ‘Batul The Great’(in Shuktara from 1965) and ‘Nonte Phonte’(in Kishore Bharati from 1969). His other creations include detective ‘Koushik Roy’ (in Shuktara from 1976), ‘Bahadur Beral’ (in Shuktara from 1983), ‘Danpite Khadu aar tar chemical Dadu’ (from 1983 in Chotoder Ashore) etc. 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 books 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
In 2011 a large size (500 page) research oriented Comics book on his lifetime art work named "Narayan Debnath Comics Samagra" (edited and compiled by Santanu Ghosh) was published which includes all his comics characters together for last 50 years. In April 2012 first English translated Batul The Great book was published by Lalmati publication.
Sir Narayan Debnath single handedly introduced bengali childrens with the "Wonderful world of Comics" |
Early life:
Narayan Debnath was born and spent most of his life living in Shibpur, Howrah, India. His family hailed from Bikrampur in what is now Bangladesh but had migrated to Shibpur before his birth. In an interview published in ''Narayan Debnath Comics Samagra'', published by Lalmati, 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.
In 1950 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. From 1950 to 1961 he illustrated a number of children’s books including adventure novels and Western classics in translation. His journey in Comics world started in 1962 with Handa-Bhonda in Suktara.
Creator and his Immortal Creations |
Introduction to comics:
The suggestion to work in comics in Bengali 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 .
3D Picture of Handa Bhonda : Created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max Software |
Handa-Bhonda was initially penciled and inked by Debnath and had no colored frames. Later it would be printed in grayscale.
3D Picture of Handa Bhonda : Created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max Software |
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.
3D Picture of Batul The Great : Created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max Software |
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. 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.
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.
3D Picture of Nonte Fonte : Created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max Software |
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.
Book Cover Picture of "NARAYAN DEBNATH COMICS-SAMAGRA" (vol 1) This Compilation of works of the comic book artist in a first in the history of Indian comics, |
Book Cover Picture of "NARAYAN DEBNATH COMICS-SAMAGRA" (vol 2) This Compilation of works of the comic book artist in a first in the history of Indian comics, |
Those Simple comics without any touch of science-fiction was so great that even after all those years in the modern computer age these comics have same entertainment appeal among bengali people. Therefore recently published "NARAYAN DEBNATH COMICS-SAMAGRA" (vol 1 & 2) is still best seller books in Bengal.
He is also a great illustrator & an expert in serious drawing too. His work for Tarzan stories, Bengali translation of foreign novels etc. are among his great works of illustrations.
3D Picture of Handa Bhonda : Created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max Software |
Some of The pages of Handa Bhonda Comics Created By Sir Narayan Debnath in Bengali:
3D Picture of Batul The Great : Created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max Software |
Some Of The Pages of Batul The Great Created by Sir Narayan Debnath in Bengali:
3D Picture of Nonte Fonte : Created by Me (Manash Kundu) in 3D Max Software |
Some of The old original Pages of of Nonte Fonte Comics Created by Sir Narayan Debnath in Bengali: