Graphic novel the new craze has hit the Indian market too. Contemporary novel is now all revamped to address a new generation of audience who believe the novel needs a little more than just words. Reading was a receding habit as more youngsters thought Tintin was by far a better read than a classic like Heidi. To stay upbeat and in competition the publishing industry in India too has now set aside all taboos and given the graphic novel a welcome hug. Web bookshelves and even libraries are now garnering copies of latest graphic novels. Graphic novel is the genre which tells stories through illustrations and prose in a single format. currently “Kari”, a slim 116-page graphic novel that tells the story of Kari is raging the market. It narrates the story of a quiet Indian woman by the name Kari who is employed in an advertising agency. Among the other important characters in this novel are Kari’s inseparable friend Rut. Their ordeal and adventures in Mumbai and the life in the busy metropolis draws a contemporary social picture. the storyline in itself is enticing enough for young adults trying to make a headway in life. It has been written and illustrated by Delhi-based Amruta Patil, a first-time novelist. The book has been published by Harper Collins and is reasonably priced at Rs.295.
Kari: Graphic Novel
Indian authors have made a niche for themselves in the English literary world and now with the advent of graphic novelists India is all set to catch up with the latest world reading trends. Graphic novels are not creative endeavours restricted to words but it give graphic designers and artists to express themselves in print. The illustrations in the book Kari are a mix of black and white drawings and colour sketches. Typography too has been vital in giving the book its final shape. The text is in fancy calligraphy and is set compatibly with the drawings to assay the intent of the novel convincingly. However, to retain the appeal of the book for first time readers of graphic novels comic book-like blurbs have been fitted into the picture frames .
“Novel has never been an easier medium. It is not really difficult to understand stories narrated with pictures, which is what a graphic novel is all about. Pictures are timeless, older than words and when laid out in a planned format with prose, it makes for an interesting medium,” said writer-cartoonist Manjula Padmanabhan. “Amruta’s novel is special because she has chosen a difficult path as a first-timer – both of a writer and illustrator,” she concluded. For the initial print run Harper Collins has printed 4,000 copies of the book. the publishing house is positive about the acceptance of this book in the Indian market and hopes to sell a minimum 3,500 copies. All the promotional copies, nearly 50 of them, on display at the recently held World Book Fair were sold out, V.K. Karthika, editor-in-chief at Harper Collins, told IANS.
The graphic novel has been pretty popular in the European publishing circuit but strangely it took the graphic novel some time before being launched in India. Probably the initial hesitation of comic book versus graphic novel urged the publishers back in India to give it a thought. but their dilemma is justified because “The River of Stories” by Goa-based writer-designer Orijit Sen had hit rock bottom in the 1990s. Even artist-filmmaker Sarnath Banerjee’s “Corridor” in 2004 and “The Barn Owl’s Wondrous Capers” in 2007 were not greeted well by the Indian readers.
Amruta author of Kari , is quite optimistic about the success of her graphic novel Kari and the slow progress of graphic novels in the Indian market in no way petrifies her. Graduated with a master’s degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Amruta said of her own work – “It evolved from some illustrations that I posted on my website for my friends and Harper Collins liked it”. She also said that the writer drew from her own life especially her childhood in Goa. “I had a quiet childhood in coastal Goa. I wrote a lot of fairy-tale stuff and illustrated them, mostly for my own pleasure, as a child,” said the author. Amruta began her picture jottings around the time she was seven years old. “Initially, it was a lot about myself, my own life. And then along the way, I met more clever people, who had better repartees than me and I ingested them into my writing,” she recalled.
The “tad-autobiographical” Kari grew as a character and travelled to Boston with Amruta. She came back to India and took the opportunity to finally pen her imagination. “I may be an illustrator, but writing has always been my first love. Illustrations are a kind of scaffolding to my words,” she said. She is now working on her next graphical novel – a mytho-historical epic that she describes as a “rather ambitious and longer venture”, and a book called “1999″.
