How a group of Indians are retelling 'Vikram and Vetaal' with these new comics

Most of this writerrsquos early memories till the age of eight exist as tiny fragments assembled and reassembled over time It makes us wonder if those memories exist in their truest forms Or whether they have morphed into different tales of which the core remains the same but the details have undergone changes over time Itrsquos when we revisit the timeless question what is truthA panel featuring Vetaalrsquos corpseAnd so when we stumble upon a group of young people called VrindKavi reintroducing the Vikram Vetaal series in comic books we are tempted to give our earliest memories of watching the series Vikram Betal 2004 on Cartoon Network with our siblings a relook We got an exclusive dekko of the eversion the first thing that stands out is the cover of the first chapter that features a buff Vikramaditya carrying the scrawny dull greyskinned Vetaal on his shoulders against the backdrop of a moonlit forest featuring a giant ghastly tree The characters and the detailing are meticulously illustrated keeping in mind young adult readers we thinkBreezy readThe first four titles made for easy reading They retain the original storyline of the celebrated king Vikramaditya wanting to pay back rishi Kshantishila who kept giving him bilva fruit filled with rare gems every day for 12 years Kshantishila calls upon the king to help him perform rites on the banks of the Godavari for the good fortune of the kingdom With it begin Vikramrsquos endless attempts at bringing a stubborn ghoul who hangs on a tree back to the rishi as an essential part of the ritesA moment from one of the upcoming chapters in the comicEach of these attempts make a book where the ghost Vetaal narrates a twisted story to Vikram and threatens to crush his head if the king gives an incorrect answer to the question that Vetaal asks him towards the end of the story Despite giving the correct replies each time Vetaal flies back to the tree he was brought from because the king breaks the unsaid code of not speaking mdash making it an endless loop of mischief and questions that test Vikramrsquos position as a king using morally moving storiesThe page that we kept returning to was the spinechilling introduction of Vetaal hanging from a tree his dishevelled grey hair covering his drooping head and the sequence that follows where Vikram strikes some eyecatching almost mangalike moves with his sword to get the ghost to go with him Of the four chapters that we read our favourite was the first one for its inviting illustrations and the third one for a tale of a love triangle and Vikramrsquos fitting response to Vetaalrsquos question towards the endYear in the makingArnav Anand founder and CEO of VrindKavi is a 23yearold who informs us that titles were the outcome of a yearround effort put in by a team of six anime and comic book enthusiasts that he assembled after putting out a call on social media ldquoMy mother would read Vikram Vetaal stories to me as a child at bedtime It helped to shape my behaviour and acted as a gateway to more Indian stories folklore and mythologyrdquo he shares adding that he felt a dearth of these moralityshaping Indian stories while growing up in a world full of Japanese manga and Western comics fansArnav AnandldquoIndian stories are just as good if not better and deserve better representationrdquo Itrsquos why he set out to rediscover the lost tales with people as young as 18yearsold ldquoGraphic novels are on the rise among this age group especially in India Who better than them to represent our target audience 18 to 30yearolds and to take our idea forwardrdquoThey successfully hit the nail on its head with its robust witty social media presence that possibly reached their target audience No wonder they were invited to anime fests across the country even before the books were available to the common public ldquoWe wanted to run our Instagram such that people would imagine that Vetaal was helming itrdquo he explained over a call from Delhi With a completely different avatar Vikram and Vetaal are a delight for followers with their playful banter and questionplayldquoThere are many versions of Vikram and Vetaal For our version we made sure we remain true to the original plot by referring to Vetalapancavimsati by Sivadasan another version Jambhaladatta and Kathasaritsagara by Somadeva The latter is a collection of stories of which the Vikram Vetaal stories are a part Starting from November 4 we will release one chapter every alternate Saturdayrdquo Anand reveals Their social media will ensure readers in touch with the characters outside of the original narrative and while they wait for the next one to release The marketing by this youthled team wins extra brownie pointsLog on to vrindkavi to pre order the first chapter