Vikram Balagopal’s Simian recounts the lessons of life Hanuman shared with Bhima. The author told Darpan Mago that graphic novels are not limited to kids
The prehistoric events of Ramayana took place many centuries ago in the Treta Yuga. Interestingly, the epic comes as a narrative of how people in those times acted on the forces of cosmos, which continues to enthrall modern people. Vikram Balagopal, a young artist and cartoonist has come up with his new graphic novel Simian, trying to explore the consequences of a great war fought in Ramayana. The book belongs to a small episode in Mahabharata where Bhima meets Hanuman, and the latter tries to guide Bhima towards wisdom by sharing lessons from the Ramayana. Sincere efforts are paid in dwelling on distinct events, unraveling the mythology and coming out with sustained explorations to understand of what is right and what is wrong. “We live in a time when the most frivolous things can lead to deadly wars. This book tries to explore the consequences of certain decisions from the eye of Hanuman,” says Vikram Balagopal. He goes on to mention that even Hanuman in his book is not able to answer what is right and what is wrong without being painstakingly elaborate. The answer is rather a constant exploration that made him create this novel.
Talking about the culture of graphic novels in India, Vikram expressed that the market is only growing. No more it is limited to children. like other books, the demand for anything usually suffers its own dips and rises. Here in India, graphic novels are still taking up new turns with each publication. Their craze in demand is no different from other forms of artistic expression. While at the same time graphics are also an integral part of some cultures and play a pivotal role. Manga, the Japanese graphic novels are a significant example for this unique illustrative orientation towards books. Pertaining to the Indian context, a mythological story in a format alike is certainly unique and edgy.
Vikram so far hasn’t used any special technique in this graphic novel and the images are mostly penciled in black and white. The intention behind making it colourless can be attributed to keeping the story as authentic and intact. While there are already many versions of Ramayana and Mahabharata, Vikram has his own understanding of the events and has poured them down on paper. “I have read many versions of Ramayana and Mahabharata, each version has different nuances to characters. They have also evolved according the time and place of the writer. My story is from the perspective of a guy who is product of this time and place,” says the author. The story told with graphic illustrations is open for interpretations.
Apart from his father C Balagopal, the author of On a clear day you can see India, other authors like Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman influence Vikram. He mentions that his father has helped him cultivate intellect and has impacted his literary tastes.
Vikram is a humble author and his demeanor was quite reflective of his modesty. He took up drawing at a tender age. Never being trained at an art school, he ended up studying filmmaking at New York Film Academy. “I never went to any training academy for art. Then I hadn’t drawn for 10 years when I started creating this book,” says Vikram. The current book is in two parts and each part took him little over a year. Currently, he is working on the third part of the same.
Vikram is a determined guy who has been a non-conformist and done the opposite of what other have told him. At the nascent stages of the book, he was deeply confident of taking up the endeavor of bringing out an elaborate graphic novel. "No one wanted to take up humanities when I was at school. Since I was 12 years of age I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to tell stories, that too visually, I was driven since school times", says Vikram.
photos Pankaj Kumar