Billoo and Olympic Games
From the Inside Flap
In 1973, cartoonist Pran was looking for a school going teenage boy who could feature in the comic strips. Thus he created a boy with a long hair covering his eyes and named him BILLOO. This lanky was liked by the readers so much that the editor of the magazine asked the cartoonist to increase the episodes from one page to two. Billoo is seen roaming the streets with his pet pup - Moti. When he is at home, he is stuck to the TV.Billoo and his gang which includes Gabdu, Jozi, Mono, Bishamber etc; are at loggerheads with Bajarangi, the wrestler and his aide Dhakkan. They are always in search of some excuse to showdown each other. Jozi is friendly to Billoo, but her dad Colonel Three - not - Three doesnot like the boy and always points his gun at him. Billoo and his friends are often seen playing cricket in lanes of the block, and their score is few smashed windows.
The stories here are filled with fun and frolic and these comic short stories of wit and matters of fact come from rural and semi-urban India. The stories give a rustic feel and are predominantly in vernacular and Hindi although they have a sizable presence in their English versions. The language is simple and easy to understand.
As an avid reader of all kind of books, cartoons, comics and graphic novels, who grew up with stories
by Lee Falks, Phantom and Mandrake which were readily and regularly available during the 80's in a small town where I belonged. Those were the days where the other books readily available were Amar Chitra Katha which had classical stories from epics and Indian history both informative and enjoyable, Tinkle with its bouquet of unique characters catering to the young audience and some rare books from the DC and Marvel universe.
Pran's books especially Chacha Choudury were also available and were a part of growing up.
From such a old history it came as a surprise to me when I started checking out book reviews, readers reviews, etc. online and never found anything remotely readable about Pran's comics which are largely popular in the country and come in several languages.
Yes there are issues with the quality of the stories with most of them very short and have no storyline with the same recurring arcs everytime. It still comes as a fist in the gut that a country with such a rich cultural diversity has not translated into these books. There have been great inputs in the others especially in Tinkle which has had several story arcs revolving around stars like Shikari Shambhu and Suppandi. I have seen some good storylines with Chacha choudhry but not with the others.
The lack of any reviews also prodded me to write some of my own so that others who want to read these books could have some inkling about what the books comprise of.
Billoo comes across as a very funny and intelligent character. He is a happy go lucky young guy whose stories are set in and around Delhi (Capital of India) and are mostly about his interactions and iterations with the local people and flavors of the season. The books are clean fun though sometimes there are issues with race, color, etc. which are a part of the carry over from the literal translations from Hindi.
Some of the recurring characters in the books are -
On Billoo's side we have -
Moti (Billoo's pet dog), Jozi (Billoo's childhood friend and love interest), Gabdu, Monu and Bishamber (some of Billoo's friends) and Colonel Three Naught Three (ex-armyman and Jozi's father, who has an immense dislike for Billoo, something very similar to Mr. Lodge from the Archie's)
As adversaries we have Bajarangi (local wrestler always at loggerheads with Billoo) and his sidekick Dhakkan.
The current book as the cover page denotes is about Billoo and Olympic games, is a representation of the kind of books in the Billoo universe with small short incidents brought together in a book.
Like most other books in the Billoo series this one starts of with a confrontation with Bajrangi when he finds Billoo exercising for the Olympics. The story results inevitably in an altercation and a challenge between Billoo and Bajrangi.
There is a lot of slapstick in the stories and involve almost all topics from going to the movies to going for a walk, plays, matches, pranks and incidents.
Juxtaposed together to form an attractive humorous set which can be enjoyed by people from all ages.
Recommended for children and the child at heart from ages 7 years and above.
Enjoy....
If you like this one then please read, like and share my other reviews here @ Blogger and also @Goodreads -
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/134366167-sanjib-dash?order=d&sort=review&view=reviews
Please do not forget to post your comments. I am an equal opportunity person so would love to hear your love or your hate. Please write what you did not like or whether the book was an absolute disaster for you and why.
You can also follow/like my review at Goodreads here -
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4820153508
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