Shotgun Sharma and Chappan churi
Plot: The adventures two hard luck detectives find themselves into when they are tasked to find mother of a little girl who seems to have disappeared.
Comments.
Okay, let me quickly get this out of my system – I LOVE THIS SERIES! It reminds me of “Motu-Patlu” and similar kind of comics. This is a complete entertainer – take a movie like andaz apna apna, run it through lethal weapon , spray just a little bit of sholay on top and you have SSCC!
This is just the kind of quirky little whimsical series that I enjoy very much. There is so much to love in this series , I just don’t know where to begin. I have chosen to be brief about this series when describing the plot because I want everyone to read it. Anything I say would not even begin to describe the nitty gritties of this comic , which is what makes this series enjoyable.
The titular characters Shubangi ( chappan churi) and Balchandra Sharma ( Shotgun Sharma) are the last people you would expect the protagonist to be like. Shubhangi is perhaps the most a-sexual female I have seen in comics and Mr Sharma is short and stout! This itself tells you the kind of series you are getting into. However don’t mistake them for incompetent fools, this duo though don’t look the part, acquit themselves beautifully in crunch situations ( however hilarious)
It only gets better as it proceeds. You get egregious dialogues, some really hilarious situations ( mine is the interrogation scene with Sharma), crazy villains, stipid motives, self deprecating humor, brave heroes and a gunshot to someone’s bum! ( reminded me of Gintama here)
Nothing I write here is going to even come close to the enjoyment I got from reading this. So just go out and sample this for yourself. You would thank me for it. There are even references to other comics and characters and the one about Batman was hilarious!
It is ofcourse obvious that I have become enamored with this series, but it is not without its fault.
The story is paper thin and like the other series in this anthology hits some standard story beats. If the dialogues and actions wouldn’t have been this funny, this experiment could have turned out so wrong. Luckily though it didn’t. But going forward I would expect some more character development and a slightly more involved plot.
The artwork is clearly manga inspired, yet not quite manga. I think we are seeing an original take which mixes manga sensibilities with older art styles of traditional Indian humor comics like biloo,pinki etc. I am as yet quite unsure of what to make of this style. I think its going to be a while before I get used to this kind of art .
Having said that, I think the artwork can use some polish, especially when it comes to action scenes.
Another thing I noticed in the art was the lack of backgrounds. There are hardly any backgrounds at all!! What’s up with that? I understand that Shreyas was the first to submit the completed series to Level 10 well before the deadline. I wish he would have taken the extra time to work on the artwork and background details. It would have made a great series even greater.
One last thing that I wanted to point out is that even though shubangi is supposed to be anti thesis to those comic women out there with huge busts , slim waist and short clothes. She should still at least look Female! At the moment, if Balchandra haven’t told me her sex, I wouldn’t have figured out that she was a female.
And what’s with the Kurta Pyjama? How many females do you see wearing kurta pyjama like that – 36B or no 36 B?
Having said all this, let me reiterate: I Love this eccentric series! Period.
Let’s have the next one! Soon!
