Even though it was a hot Saturday afternoon (yesterday), I made it all the way from Malad to the World Trade Centre for Mumbai’s very first Comic Con Express. I love everything to do with comics and animation and hence, had kept the date free to go and check this event out. I keep seeing updates of the San Diego Comic Convention (reportedly the biggest in the world) and the New York Comic Convention (which was all of last week) on the net and I was hoping that the one in Mumbai would live up to 25% of my expectation, at least!
Well, it did live up to my expectations – some what (!) – and I must say that it seemed pretty well organized for a first-time event. As you enter, a stall selling prints and books by Mario Miranda is right in front. Prices vary from Rs.500/- onwards. I only wished Mario was there in person. Of course, with Shah Rukh Khan promoting Ra.One aggressively, it came as no surprise to find a stall selling merchandise related to the film like water bottles, pencil cases, miniature dolls etc etc etc. The costliest item was a doll of G.One which cost Rs.10,000/-
What I totally tripped over, however, was an artist who had sheets of paper printed with cut-out’s of Indian gods. You cut along the dotted lines and fold them at various points to create 3-dimensional paper figures. From Laxmi to Kali and Ganesha to Shiva, they were all there for the taking at only Rs.30/- per sheet.
And if paper gods weren’t enough, a man dressed up as Lord Shiva stood center-stage in one of the stalls, promoting comics of Shiva. He’d actually painted his whole body blue and took great pains to make the look as authentic as possible. We like!
And finally, what is a Comic Con without people dressing up as their fave characters? Even though I couldn’t dress-up (I wanted to go as Charlie Brown or Tintin), the organizers took it upon themselves to have their friends roam around as Fred Flintstone and his best-friend Barney, Asterix The Gaul, Darth Vader and even a half-naked Tarzan (who I thought was Mowgli from The Jungle Book). The rest of the junta weren’t as adventurous either, and ended up wearing tee shirts of their favourite cartoon characters.
Let’s hope this becomes a regular feature because I’m already looking out for a Comic Con next year!
(Pix: Ranjit Rodricks for MissMalini)