We grew up with an awesome Amitabh Bachchan comic, referencing his life and films and with the writing supervised by Gulzar. But Star Comics only ever got around to a dozen or so issues, and we comic book fans grew up in a Bollywood void. (A blessed thing, perhaps.)
Now, however, is born another hero. A hero who might have started with art cinema and moved ignominously into B-cinema but has eventually become an icon for the impossible, a messiah of mediocre madness -- and the duke of disco. It's a no-brainer, this man deserves his own comic. Ladies and gents, bring out your agarbatti, turn up the Bappida synth, wear something that has bulbs on it, and rejoice.
For Mithunda is here. Aaaie saala.
Jimmy Zhingchak, Agent Of D.I.S.C.O is one of the latest comics on the Virgin assembly line, and the first issue on stands across the US right now. A collaboration between Virgin Comics and UTV Spotboy -- who surely want to make this into a film -- this is one mad trip down 70s road.
Writer Saurav Mohapatra channels his inner Manmohan Desai, tosses in a dash of Mad Magazine, and emerges with a comic that is likely to have Farah Khan chuckling awhile.
The plot goes as you'd expect it to: young Jimmy Grover starts seeing visions of a mysterious fat neckless man wreathed in necklaces, telling him that he's the one, that the force -- sorry, the Zhingchak -- is strong with him, and soon our boy Jimmy is battling toughies like Sir John and his nefarious henchmen: some oriental, some robotic.
The fun thing about JZ -- and for me, the 'Agent of D.I.S.C.O' take on Nick Fury, Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D never quite gets old, heh -- is that while it reads like a typical spoof of the mtv variety, Mohapatra brings in all sorts of non-Mithun, non-filmi elements into the fray, making this a complete trip down memory lane for all of us who grew up in the 80s. We can identify. Without giving much away, I never believed a single comic could exist and span across both Mala D and Domo Arigato, Mr Roboto, and for that, sir, I take my hat off to you.
Yet, perplexingly, the problem with Jimmy is that there is too much of the familiarity. While Mohapatra indeed does try and create an Austin Powers-like world for the Seventeesy character and his music and his Mithunwalk, it seems somewhat underdone, as if its not going out on a limb enough.
The funnest parts right now are the bits of obscure dialogue, the times the plot veers away from Master Dinanath or the blind mother, and stays cheeky -- 'cause honestly, it really is a spoof we've seen before.
Then again, it is an origin story, and maybe Jimmy needs a couple of issues to really get into the groove, to get his Mithun-Mojo going. Meanwhile, the first issue undoubtedly makes you laugh -- even at jokes you've heard before. May the Zhingchak continue to amuse.
Source: Rediff Movies
