{"AuthorName":"Deepa Sreenivas","Description":"

This image-essay takes a close look at the representation of certain compelling imaginations of the Muslim villain, specifically that of ‘Alauddin Khilji’, in the popular visual culture of post-independence India. While my emphasis is on popular comics, I also draw on cinema, posters, and certain other publicity-related visual material. It is impossible not to acknowledge the growing marginalization of Muslims in India today as reflected in the cultural arena (cinema, children’s stories, comics, textbooks, and so on), coupled with political alienation. Instances of the representation of the Muslim man as a figure with powerful and charismatic presence have been steadily decreasing. Through the analysis of a few narratives with the Muslim male at the centre—not as the ‘hero’ but as the ‘villain’, combining evil with a streak of masculine charisma—I explore how such representations reveal the deep anxieties underlying the Hindu majoritarian discourse in postcolonial India, specifically since the 1980s.1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> These figures, even as they are demonized, evoke troubling memories of the ‘weak Hindu male’ responsible for the loss of the Indian nation to the Muslim\/colonial ‘outsider’ in Hindutva historiography. The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 01: Poster of Mughal-e-Azam<\/em> (K. Asif, 1960). Art by Sai. https:\/\/tallengestore.com\/products\/mughal-e-azam-madhubala-dilip-kumar-classic-bollywood-hindi-movie-poster#<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 01<\/a><\/span>My analysis aims to bring out the plurality of visual meanings embodied in images of the ‘villainous’ Muslim, located within but also transgressing dominant ways of imagining Muslim masculinity.
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\r\nThe representation of the Muslim male in literature, cinema, and other popular cultural genres in post-partition India has been marked by love, tragedy, grandeur, betrayal or risk, and often a combination of these. It has never quite been free from an underlying anxiety of belonging\/non-belonging to the idea of the nation, but at certain moments it has foregrounded a strong, persevering masculinity, especially in cinema. The film Mughal-e-Azam<\/em> (The Greatest of the Mughals; K. Asif, 1960) was primarily about the epic clash between Emperor Akbar and his son Salim, over the latter’s love for a kaneez<\/em> (a servant girl), but it left the viewer with an enduring impression of an emperor who placed ‘Bharat’ (India) over his religion and personal ties (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 01: Poster of Mughal-e-Azam<\/em> (K. Asif, 1960). Art by Sai. https:\/\/tallengestore.com\/products\/mughal-e-azam-madhubala-dilip-kumar-classic-bollywood-hindi-movie-poster#<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 01<\/a>). The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 02: Handmade poster of Jodha Akbar<\/em> (Ashutosh Gowariker, 2008). Artist: Aalam Choudhary. https:\/\/bollywoodpostersstudio.com\/bollywood-posters\/hand-painted-billboard-painter-artists-mumbai-maker-of-bollywood-movie-posters.html<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 02<\/a><\/span>In the film Jodha Akbar<\/em> (Ashutosh Gowariker, 2008), The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 03: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Akbar <\/em>(1979).
\r\nArtist: not cited but based on style it is possibly P.G. Sirur.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 03<\/a><\/span>Hritik Roshan played an Akbar whose emotions were not hidden behind stiff armour, but his narrative was still one of locating the Muslim within a secular idea of the nation (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 02: Handmade poster of Jodha Akbar<\/em> (Ashutosh Gowariker, 2008). Artist: Aalam Choudhary. https:\/\/bollywoodpostersstudio.com\/bollywood-posters\/hand-painted-billboard-painter-artists-mumbai-maker-of-bollywood-movie-posters.html<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 02<\/a>). Even the Amar Chitra Katha (Immortal Picture Stories, henceforth ACK), a popular comic series of the post-Nehru era that shared many of the key ideological premises of the Hindu nationalist discourse, exhibited a pressure to distinguish between the ‘good Muslim’ and the ‘bad Muslim’ and integrate the former as a part of the nation (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 03: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Akbar <\/em>(1979).
\r\nArtist: not cited but based on style it is possibly P.G. Sirur.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 03<\/a>).2<\/sup><\/a><\/span>
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\r\nThe first part of this essay focuses on the figure of Alauddin Khilji as portrayed in ACK, but does bring in a range of other characters from the series by way of comparison and contrast. The subsequent section explores a cinematic representation of the same figure in the recent Bollywood blockbuster Padmaavat<\/em> (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2018). Both the comic-book and the film reveal a deep visual investment in the figure notwithstanding its overt pathologization. The changed medium and context however allow for a different set of dynamics to play out in each case. At a moment when one is surrounded by images of the Muslim male vilified as beef-eater, traitor, terrorist, or love jihadi<\/em>\u200a3<\/sup><\/a><\/span>—abject, terrified, and emasculated—the comic-book and cinematic images can be read as sites of ambivalence, contestation, and even desire.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

1. Muslim Masculinity in the Comic Frame: Of Anxiety, Containment, Excess<\/strong><\/u><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 04: Alauddin’s plot. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 04<\/a><\/span>This section foregrounds the Alauddin Khilji of ACK’s Padmini <\/em>(1973) as a formidable villain. I begin with an array of characters that remain opposed to or deviate from the typical Hindu hero. Khilji, set against this backdrop, emerges as perversely ‘intractable’ in spite of the strategies of containment deployed by the comic-book.
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\r\nThe Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 05: Alauddin sees Padmini. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 05<\/a><\/span>The earliest known version of the Padmini\/Alauddin Khilji legend dates back to Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s epic poem Padmavat<\/em> (1540) in Avadhi, a Sufi mystical adaptation of the heroic romances popular in the region at that time, narrating the dangerous quests undertaken by princes to court and marry women of legendary beauty. This legend has been recurrently resurrected in the nationalist histories and literature since the late 19th century, transforming the original epic into one of Hindu-Muslim confrontation, and Alauddin Khilji (a Sultan of the Khilji dynasty from the 14th century) into the archetypal enemy of the (Hindu) nation\/women. Set within this ideological framework, ACK’s Padmini<\/em> re-tells the story of Khilji’s invasion of Chittor, a Rajput kingdom, in a bid to obtain its beautiful Queen Padmini, the wife of King Ratnasen. The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 06: Alauddin surveys the ashes. Final panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 06<\/a><\/span>Proclaiming himself as a brother to the queen, he gains access into the fort, and captures the kingdom through treachery (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 04: Alauddin’s plot. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 04<\/a>, The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 05: Alauddin sees Padmini. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 05<\/a>). Padmini, along with the women of the palace, commits jauhar<\/em> (ritual self-immolation) in order to avoid ‘dishonour’. The final panel shows Khilji staring in bewilderment at the smouldering ashes of the women who burnt themselves, completely at a loss to understand it (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 06: Alauddin surveys the ashes. Final panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 06<\/a>). I will analyse the visual strategies aimed to demonize Khilji that simultaneously lead to unanticipated character effects (such as charisma, daredevilry, and an irrepressible impishness).
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\r\nBut first, a look at the rakshasa<\/em>s (demons), the earliest ‘villains’ in the ACK universe!
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\r\nThe Rakshasa<\/em>s: Strategies of Abjection<\/strong><\/span>
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\r\nThe Amar Chitra Katha series was founded in the 1960s by Anant Pai, a young brahmin journalist from Bombay. Conceived as a mission to reintroduce Indian children to their roots, ACK brought alive in comic form the lives of great men (and a few great women) from Indian history and mythology. The story of its struggle to make a mark as an ‘Indian comic’ in a market flooded by western superhero comics and its subsequent phenomenal success is by now well documented.4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> I would argue that right from the beginning ACK has differed from the western superhero comics in one important aspect—it lacks the figure of the supervillain, the deadly antagonist of the superhero in the comic universe. The golden age of American comics (roughly 1938–54) saw the birth of many iconic superheroes (Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, and so on); concomitantly comic-book editors, writers, and artists were ‘challenged to create supervillains against whom their superheroes could maintain their mythic status’.5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Most ACK heroes, however, encounter more than one enemy in the course of the narrative and crush them with ease, without the sustained and deadly combat that the superhero and supervillain of western comic-books are locked into. In the case of mythological stories these enemies take the form of demons or rakshasa<\/em>s.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 07: Rama kills Maricha. Panels from Valmiki’s Ramayana<\/em> (1975).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 07<\/a><\/span>The rakshasa<\/em>s of ACK are routinely outmatched by the physical prowess and moral stature of the mythological heroes. They are often blurrily drawn, marked by stock features—dark skin, unkempt hair, stone necklaces, and an ungainly bulk. To cite an example (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 07: Rama kills Maricha. Panels from Valmiki’s Ramayana<\/em> (1975).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 07<\/a>), in Valmiki’s Ramayana<\/em> (1975), one half of a panel is filled by the profile of a determined, erect Rama with his arrow drawn, while the other half shows four witless rakshasha<\/em>s. In the subsequent panel, we see the gigantic demon Maricha falling to the ground, mouth wide open in a scream of pain as Rama’s arrow pierces his chest, fitted into a disproportionately small frame with comical effect.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The employed colour-scheme betrays an inherent racism in the representation of masculinities; Rama is blue-complexioned (in the dominant iconography of Rama\/Krishna, the colour blue is symbolic of manhood, bravery, virtue, as also infinity), with gold crown and ornaments indicative of his nobility; his demeanour and posture that of a kshatriya<\/em> warrior. The rakshasas<\/em> on the other hand are of a muddy brown complexion and coarse-featured, with stone ornaments and animal-skin loincloths; their hairy bodies connoting bestiality and primitivity. This is further accentuated by their crawling or jumping postures. We find this pattern repeating in comics such as Krishna<\/em> (1970), Dasha Avatar<\/em> (1978), and several others (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 08: Vishnu’s avatar Matsya will take on the ‘overreaching’ demon, Hayagriva. Opening page of Amar Chitra Katha’s Dasha Avatar<\/em> (1978). Artist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 08<\/a>, The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 09: Krishna fights the demon Chanura. Page from Amar Chitra Katha’s Krishna <\/em>(1970).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 09<\/a>). Within the hierarchized world of ACK, the Hindu gods and heroes are embodiments of ideal manhood while the rakshasa<\/em>s, tribals, and Muslims stand for a subordinated, subhuman masculinity.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 08: Vishnu’s avatar Matsya will take on the ‘overreaching’ demon, Hayagriva. Opening page of Amar Chitra Katha’s Dasha Avatar<\/em> (1978). Artist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 08<\/a><\/span>    The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 09: Krishna fights the demon Chanura. Page from Amar Chitra Katha’s Krishna <\/em>(1970).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 09<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 10: Rama kills Tataka. Panels from Valmiki’s Ramayana<\/em> (1975).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 10<\/a><\/span>Significantly, the rakshasi<\/em> (female demon) Tataka in Valmiki’s Ramayana<\/em> almost mirrors the male rakshsasa<\/em>’s masculinity in terms of size, colour, hair, and comportment. Certain visual markers such as the brief upper cloth covering her torso and a large bindi<\/em> (dot on the forehead) indicate that she is female, but merely enhance her ‘grotesqueness’. Her appearance (typical of rakshasi<\/em> figures in ACK comics) is diametrically opposed to the curvaceous but fragile ACK heroines, slim-waisted and fair-skinned. Curiously, she is assigned seven panels (as against only two depicting Maricha), signalling a certain masculine anxiety in Rama and Lakshmana (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 10: Rama kills Tataka. Panels from Valmiki’s Ramayana<\/em> (1975).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 10<\/a>). In one panel, the ‘invincible’ Rama appears rattled by her ability to turn invisible and asks, ‘But where is she?’ as heavy rocks fly in the direction of him and his brother.<\/p>\r\n\r\n


\r\nThe Formidable Rakshasa<\/em> Kings: Ravana and Hiranyakashipu<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

ACK comics like Prahlad <\/em>(1973) or The Lord of Lanka<\/em> (1974) have well-drawn and larger-than-life rakshasa<\/em> kings, Hiranykashipu and Ravana respectively, as protagonists (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig.11: The demon Hiranykashipu. Opening page of Amar Chitra Katha’s Prahlad <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Souren Roy.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 11<\/a>, The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 12: An audacious Ravana assumes a gigantic ten-headed form and abducts Sita. Page from Amar Chitra Katha’s The Lord of Lanka<\/em> (1974). Artist: Pulak Biswas.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 12<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig.11: The demon Hiranykashipu. Opening page of Amar Chitra Katha’s Prahlad <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Souren Roy.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 11<\/a><\/span>    The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 12: An audacious Ravana assumes a gigantic ten-headed form and abducts Sita. Page from Amar Chitra Katha’s The Lord of Lanka<\/em> (1974). Artist: Pulak Biswas.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 12<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

To an extent, Ravana and Hiranyakashipu represent what Mike Alsford describes as the dark attraction of the great comic supervillain:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The ‘dark side of the Force’ is, undoubtedly, very seductive. The person who operates according to their own rules, who refuses to conform or be limited by convention or taboo has a strength and presence that is hard to ignore and in some ways is hard not to admire.6<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 13: Narasimha destroys Hiranykashipu. Panels from Amar Chitra Katha’s Prahlad <\/em>(1973). Artist: Souren Roy. (You may zoom in to the picture by using the zoom button on top right, and scroll up and down by dragging the image.)<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 13<\/a><\/span>As pointed out by Nandini Chandra, the artist Pulak Biswas paints Ravana in a highly aestheticized manner in The Lord of Lanka<\/em>, with ‘mongoloid features’ (signalled through slanted eyes and so on). This deviates from the routine Dravidization of rakshasa<\/em>s as dark and squat. Further, there is more than one comic-book on Ravana in ACK, owing to the traditional perception of Rama and Ravana as spiritual equals.7<\/sup><\/a><\/span> However, the great prowess of Hiranyakashipu or Ravana is ultimately used to throw into relief the omnipotence of the Hindu god Vishnu\/Rama, the final panels depicting a violent annihilation of these figures. In The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 13: Narasimha destroys Hiranykashipu. Panels from Amar Chitra Katha’s Prahlad <\/em>(1973). Artist: Souren Roy. (You may zoom in to the picture by using the zoom button on top right, and scroll up and down by dragging the image.)<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 13<\/a>, Vishnu appears in a half-lion, half-human form (deified as the Narasimha avatar in dominant Hindu mythology) to annihilate Hiranyakashipu who can be killed by neither man nor beast. The god’s form is of a bright gold hue with a flowing mane—awe-inspiring, unlike the rakshasa<\/em>s discussed earlier. The hitherto invincible Hiranyakashipu stands awestruck with a broken sword as this form emerges from a pillar, with a medley of indistinctly drawn, dark-skinned rakshasa<\/em>s frozen with fear in the background. Three panels are devoted to the actions of Vishnu ruthlessly killing the demon; the final one shows Narasimha seated with the limp, lifeless body of Hiranyakashipu sprawled across his thighs, the head and legs hanging down on either side. Narasimha’s hands are bloodied and a streak of crimson red runs down in a thick straight line from his outstretched tongue on to the floor, making it abundantly clear that he has drunk the demon’s blood. The caption on top has a single clipped line, ‘There he killed him.’<\/p>\r\n\r\n

What justifies this instance of ACK’s flagrant violation of its own editorial guideline restricting depiction of excessive violence? In the moral order of ACK, the violence perpetrated by the male gods or heroes is refigured as justice, and the feudal spectacle of Narasimha’s vengeance is legitimated by the awe and meek submission of his ‘subjects’. ACK was greatly influenced by Vivekananda’s ideal of Hindu masculinity—an embodiment of leonine vigour, a combination of physical prowess and nobility.8<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Thus the ‘lion’ is the very opposite of the bestial manhood embodied by the rakshasa<\/em>s.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 14: Order is restored with Narasimha on the throne. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Prahlad <\/em>(1973). Artist: Souren Roy.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 14<\/a><\/span>The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 15: Ravana is vanquished. Final page of Amar Chitra Katha’s The Lord of Lanka<\/em> (1974).
\r\nArtist: Pulak Biswas.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 15<\/a><\/span>The composition of The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 14: Order is restored with Narasimha on the throne. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Prahlad <\/em>(1973). Artist: Souren Roy.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 14<\/a> reflects the spatial and moral order of an Aryan\/feudal\/masculinized world: Narasimha is seated on Hiranyakashipu’s throne, the gods shower petals from above, subordinate kings including Prince Prahlad stand in front and around with folded hands, the curvaceous female musicians play their instruments or stand holding offerings of flowers. Placed directly behind the throne are the fan-bearers and farther away to the left are the rakshasa<\/em>s, their faces mere outlines without features, identified only by their dark skins and crude ornaments.
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\r\nThe final two panels of The Lord of Lanka<\/em> (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 15: Ravana is vanquished. Final page of Amar Chitra Katha’s The Lord of Lanka<\/em> (1974).
\r\nArtist: Pulak Biswas.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 15<\/a>) display a similar pattern. The blue-skinned Rama views with benevolence the dead Ravana sprawled in a river of blood at his feet, consoling the rakshasa<\/em> king’s docile brother Vibhishana standing beside him. The actual act of killing is not shown. However, the contrast between Ravana’s former glory and current abjection is but too clear. Rama overseeing the coronation of Vibhishana (respectful and beholden to him, unlike Ravana) demonstrates the restoration of order.<\/p>\r\n\r\n


\r\nThe Mughals: Secular and Sanitized<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The initial issues of ACK were based on mythological stories until the publication of Shivaji<\/em> in 1971. The historical comics followed the formula of the mythological ones where a god (as hero) would slay the demon (as villain) with ease, except that now the Hindu historical kings and warriors were cast as the heroes and the Muslims as villains.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

As Karline McLain writes: ‘In both Rama<\/em> and Rana Pratap<\/em>, our heroes calmly hold their weapons of choice ready in exercised poses, while their foes scramble about waving their arms and weapons in frantic, destructive gestures.’9<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Faced with the criticism from several quarters of carrying out Hindu propaganda, Pai was quick to add titles like Babur<\/em>, Humayun<\/em>, and Jesus Christ<\/em> with the intent to reposition the series as a secular enterprise.10<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Below, I examine the representations of certain Mughal rulers in the light of this strategic reorientation of the series.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

In the Hindu fundamentalist rhetoric Muslims in India are often pejoratively referred to as the progeny of Babur. Such depiction, aimed at invoking aversion, is consolidated through the belief that Babur built the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1528, on the site of a temple that marked Rama’s sacred birthplace. In 1992, the mosque was demolished by marauding Hindu fundamentalists leading to widespread riots. ACK’s portrayal of the Mughals cannot however be easily located within the Hindutva ideology. The comic edition of Babur<\/em> (1977) represents the Mughal Emperor Babur in the characteristic mould of the series, tracing the trajectory of his life, starting with a childhood burdened with enormous odds (loss of parents, invasion of his kingdom by deadly enemies, and so on) and his determined journey forward, to ultimately emerge as the ‘Emperor of Hindustan’. There is no attempt to represent him as the ‘alien invader’. However, a separate Muslim world order is signalled by the colour-scheme; the elements in the panels—attires, plants, scenery, floors, walls—are suffused in shades of green. The young Babur sports no beard and has a rounded face, his expressions mostly soft and wistful (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 16: The young Babur. Panels from Amar Chitra Katha’s Babur <\/em>(1977).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 16<\/a>), until a bearded and decisive face appears in later panels (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 17: Babur addresses his troops before the battle of Panipat. Panels from Amar Chitra Katha’s Babur <\/em>(1977). Artist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 17<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 16: The young Babur. Panels from Amar Chitra Katha’s Babur <\/em>(1977).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 16<\/a><\/span>    The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 17: Babur addresses his troops before the battle of Panipat. Panels from Amar Chitra Katha’s Babur <\/em>(1977). Artist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 17<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 18: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Babur <\/em>(1977).
\r\nArtist: C.M. Vitankar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 18<\/a><\/span>The cover image is by C.M. Vitankar, the well-known artist who drew a large number of covers for both ACK and another popular Hindi comic series called Manoj Chitra Katha (henceforth MCK). A sought-after poster artist in the film industry in the 1950s and ’60s, Vitankar carried the photographic realism of his posters to the covers of ACK.11<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Rachel Dwyer has discussed how the posters and advertising material would reflect the aesthetic of the historical film: ‘Visually spectacular scenes were created through the use of grand architecture, opulent settings, sumptuous costumes, ornate jewelry and a cast of hundreds, all of which evoked the “essence” of the Mughal period.’12<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Vitankar bestows similar attention on the details of Babur’s armour, sword, and bejewelled headwear, the folds of his clothing, and the expression of valour and determination on his face, towering over a multitude of tiny figures in the background (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 18: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Babur <\/em>(1977).
\r\nArtist: C.M. Vitankar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 18<\/a>).
\r\n
\r\nA comic-lover writes in his blog: ‘If both Amar Chitra Katha and Manoj Chitra Katha are talked of then the name of C.M. Vitankar for best cover designs can be taken unarguably.’ He however feels that the MCK covers designed by Vitankar were superior because of ‘the liberty of colours which MCK allowed to give a paint like look on thick paper whereas ACK used limited colors and thin paper for covers [sic].’13<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The examples of covers drawn by Vitankar for MCK in The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 19: Cover of Manoj Chitra Katha’s Alha-Udal<\/em> (1980s).
\r\nArtist: C.M. Vitankar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 19<\/a> and The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 20: Cover of Manoj Chitra Katha’s Taimur Lang<\/em> (1980s).
\r\nArtist: C.M. Vitankar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 20<\/a> seem to endorse the above perception.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 19: Cover of Manoj Chitra Katha’s Alha-Udal<\/em> (1980s).
\r\nArtist: C.M. Vitankar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 19<\/a><\/span>    The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 20: Cover of Manoj Chitra Katha’s Taimur Lang<\/em> (1980s).
\r\nArtist: C.M. Vitankar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 20<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Souren Roy, an illustrator of several ACK comics, reveals that the cover of each ACK comic-book on a historical king is designed based on an inside panel depicting the king in a moment of bravery, engaged in a heroic battle.14<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Perhaps the cover of Babur<\/em>—appropriately the first title on the Mughals in the ACK series—is assigned to a star cover-designer like Vitankar because it endorses the series’ secular credentials. But, equally critical, it safely portrays a battle where Babur emerges victorious against a Muslim antagonist, Sultan Ibrahim Lodi of Delhi—the battle of Panipat in 1526. The story ends with this event and does not extend to the battle of Khanwa in the following year where Babur defeats the Rajput King of Mewar, Rana Sanga (a deified Rajput hero, to whom ACK dedicates a hagiographic comic)—a decisive victory that consolidates the Mughal dynasty in India. Notably, none of covers of the subsequent comics on Mughal emperors portrays such an iconic battle scene.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 21: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Humayun <\/em>(1977).
\r\nArtist: not cited but based on style it is possibly P.G. Sirur.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 21<\/a><\/span>Humayun<\/em> (1977) carries the subtitle The Second Great Mughal<\/em> yet the illustrations project the emperor as lacking force; his expressions betraying a soft, wistful, and indecisive nature. The cover is adapted from an inner panel showing a wounded Humayun fleeing from the battlefield on a weary horse about to drown in the river (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 21: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Humayun <\/em>(1977).
\r\nArtist: not cited but based on style it is possibly P.G. Sirur.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 21<\/a>). The impressionist style of the pictured scene enhances his vulnerability and isolation.
\r\n
\r\nThe illustrations of Akbar<\/em> (1979) lack the majestic aura of Akbar as played by the legendary Prithviraj Kapoor in the epic historical film Mughal-e-Azam<\/em> (1960). Given that the ACK artists routinely adapted the aesthetic of Bombay cinema, and would have been familiar with the epic film, the contrast between the poster of the film (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 01: Poster of Mughal-e-Azam<\/em> (K. Asif, 1960). Art by Sai. https:\/\/tallengestore.com\/products\/mughal-e-azam-madhubala-dilip-kumar-classic-bollywood-hindi-movie-poster#<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 01<\/a>) and the cover of ACK’s Akbar<\/em> (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 03: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Akbar <\/em>(1979).
\r\nArtist: not cited but based on style it is possibly P.G. Sirur.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 03<\/a>) is noteworthy. The cover shows Akbar on horseback in the foreground, pointing at the fort of Mewar as if troubled by its apparent invincibility and great height. Three of his generals stand in front in full battle gear, looking hesitant and unsure. The cavalry stationed at midpoint between Akbar and the fort is sparse and unimpressive, the rising clouds in the distant horizon convey a sense of foreboding. There is none of the decisiveness or grandeur of the cover of Babur<\/em>; the impressionist style clearly unsuited for the projection of warlike masculinity.
\r\n
\r\nAn inner panel that depicts Akbar as a young prince atop an elephant during an elephant fight references the vividly coloured miniature painting of the same theme from the Akbarnama<\/em>, Abu Fazl’s biography of Akbar. According to Jane Buckingham, descriptions of Akbar’s skill in subduing enraged elephants served as evidence of his masculine prowess and divine-sanctioned authority.15<\/sup><\/a><\/span> However, the ACK illustrations depict Akbar as a blurry, diminutive figure lost above the giant elephants, notwithstanding the awe expressed by the onlookers (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 22: The young Prince Akbar. Page from Amar Chitra Katha’s Akbar <\/em>(1979).
\r\nArtist: P.B. Kavadi.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 22<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 22: The young Prince Akbar. Page from Amar Chitra Katha’s Akbar <\/em>(1979).
\r\nArtist: P.B. Kavadi.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 22<\/a><\/span>     The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 23: The valiant Rajput king overpowers a charging tiger. Opening page of Amar Chitra Katha’s Prithviraj Chauhan<\/em> (1971).
\r\nArtist: P.B. Kavadi.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 23<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

While the limitations of the comic-book medium do not allow for the intricacies of a miniature painting, it may be pointed out that in Prithviraj Chauhan <\/em>(1971), the first full-page panel depicts a vivid spectacle of the eponymous Hindu king about to kill a charging tiger with his spear (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 23: The valiant Rajput king overpowers a charging tiger. Opening page of Amar Chitra Katha’s Prithviraj Chauhan<\/em> (1971).
\r\nArtist: P.B. Kavadi.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 23<\/a>).16<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 24: Akbar with cheetahs. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Akbar <\/em>(1979). Artist: P.B. Kavadi.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 24<\/a><\/span>The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 25: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Dara Shukoh and Aurangzeb<\/em> (1981).
\r\nArtist: C.M. Vitankar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 25<\/a><\/span>In Akbar<\/em>, the emperor’s command over wild animals (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 24: Akbar with cheetahs. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Akbar <\/em>(1979). Artist: P.B. Kavadi.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 24<\/a>) is shown but is confined to smaller inner panels. The comic stresses the Nehruvian image of Akbar as the syncretic Mughal ruler while toning down his sovereign masculine authority.
\r\n
\r\nThe comic-book titled Dara Shukoh and Aurangzeb<\/em> (1981) is premised on the binary of good Muslim versus bad Muslim. To cite Karline McLain: ‘The syncretistic, heterodox brother is the good one—the hero—while the sharia<\/em>-oriented orthodox brother is the bad one—the villain.’17<\/sup><\/a><\/span>
\r\n
\r\nThe cover has Dara Shukoh, drawn by Vitankar, the only other Mughal apart from Babur to be bestowed this honour. Regally seated on a jewel-bedecked horse, splendidly dressed, the emperor waves to his subjects (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 25: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Dara Shukoh and Aurangzeb<\/em> (1981).
\r\nArtist: C.M. Vitankar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 25<\/a>). Not really known for his imperial majesty as is Akbar, one wonders if the visual splendour granted to Dara Shukoh is because he is considered less of a threat to the notion of a superior Hindu masculinity.
\r\nThe Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 26: The scheming Aurangzeb. Panels from Amar Chitra Katha’s Dara Shukoh and Aurangzeb<\/em> (1981). Artist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 26<\/a><\/span>
\r\nThe comic also works to downgrade Aurangzeb, represented as surly and scheming (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 26: The scheming Aurangzeb. Panels from Amar Chitra Katha’s Dara Shukoh and Aurangzeb<\/em> (1981). Artist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 26<\/a>). Sharp, pointed facial lines lend him a hawkish aura. Aurangzeb is not demonized, but diminutized and demasculinized visually.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 27: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Shah Jahan<\/em> (1979).
\r\nArtist: P.G. Sirur.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 27<\/a><\/span>The cover of Shah Jahan<\/em> (1979), drawn in an impressionist style by P.G. Sirur, yields a sense decay, loss, and nostalgia. A frail old man, the emperor lies under a blanket, hands clasped together, and head propped up on pillows so that he can gaze out of the window at the Taj Mahal, standing at a distance across the Yamuna river (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 27: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Shah Jahan<\/em> (1979).
\r\nArtist: P.G. Sirur.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 27<\/a>). The image undercuts the title: Shah Jahan: Emperor, Soldier, Master Builder<\/em>. The illustrator of the comic, Souren Roy, was inspired by the British and Bengal Schools of Art that routinely infused Shah Jahan paintings with romantic sentiments of loss and longing.18<\/sup><\/a><\/span>
\r\n
\r\nKarline McLain’s comparison of the final panels of Shah Jahan<\/em> and Shivaji<\/em> (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 28: The dying emperor. Final panel of Amar Chitra Katha’s Shah Jahan<\/em> (1979).
\r\nArtist: Souren Roy.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 28<\/a>, The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 29: The Maratha king enthroned. Final panel of Amar Chitra Katha’s Shivaji <\/em>(1972).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 29<\/a>) is revealing: ‘Shivaji is immortalized as the powerful warrior-king, seated gloriously on his golden throne before his bowing courtiers, while Shah Jahan is immortalized as a pathetic has been, dreaming of the former days of glory as he lies dying.’19<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 28: The dying emperor. Final panel of Amar Chitra Katha’s Shah Jahan<\/em> (1979).
\r\nArtist: Souren Roy.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 28<\/a><\/span>      The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 29: The Maratha king enthroned. Final panel of Amar Chitra Katha’s Shivaji <\/em>(1972).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 29<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The visual representation of the Mughal emperors in ACK largely adopts the post-independence secular mode of history textbooks. The Mughal kings are not marked out as invaders\/outsiders but they do not embody the nationalist manliness of ACK’s iconic Hindu\/Rajput heroes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n


\r\nSpiritual Masculinity versus the ‘Muslim Other’<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

In the Hindu heroes of ACK, one notes a strong influence of Vivekananda’s notion of ascetic brahminism. Vivekananda reconstructs the sanyasi<\/em> (ascetic) figure as martial, in opposition to one withdrawn into otherworldly religiosity. This ideal of ‘ascetic masculinity’ is counterposed to the ‘aggressive virility’ Islam which ‘encouraged the Mohammedan to “conquer with the Koran in one hand and the sword in the other”.’20<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Below I briefly refer to the certain examples of ascetic masculinity in ACK that present a sharp contrast to the masculinity of, for instance, Alauddin Khilji that I examine later.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 30: The masculine Hindu ascetic. Illustration from Amar Chitra Katha’s Swami Dayananda<\/em> (1976). Artist: H.S. Chavan.
\r\nAlso see Gaurav Kalra's Swami Vivekananda: Politics of Posture and Sartorial Sagacity<\/a>.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 30<\/a><\/span>Following editorial guidelines, the ACK hero is mostly drawn in a subdued, almost flat manner, avoiding excessive emotion. Acts of extraordinary prowess are represented as emblematic of a ‘spiritual-rational masculinity’ and not as supernatural or miraculous. In The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 30: The masculine Hindu ascetic. Illustration from Amar Chitra Katha’s Swami Dayananda<\/em> (1976). Artist: H.S. Chavan.
\r\nAlso see Gaurav Kalra's Swami Vivekananda: Politics of Posture and Sartorial Sagacity<\/a>.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 30<\/a>, for instance, the celibate ascetic Dayananda stops a carriage by holding on to its wheel with just one hand. This action fits in with the Swami’s persona—an embodiment of martial brahminism, learned in the Vedas yet muscular and ready to take up the sword when necessary.
\r\n
\r\nChanakya is another instance of the martial guru\/sanyasi<\/em> who leaves the hermitage to save a nation (Magadha) on the brink of moral collapse and fragmentation. The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 31: The martial guru. Illustration from Amar Chitra Katha’s Chanakya <\/em>(1971).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 31<\/a> displays the sage’s body hardened through harsh discipline, thin and sinewy. The piercing gaze, lips set in determination, one hand curled into a fist, indicate great strength; further enhanced by the markers of his caste—sandalwood lines on the forehead, the lock of hair on the back of his shaven head, and the white robe—a powerful visual articulation of martial brahminism.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

It would not be farfetched to suggest that ACK is an influence on the refiguration of Rama as a muscular and martial figure in the Hindu majoritarian discourse since the ’80s. Note, for instance, the cover of Valmiki’s <\/em>Ramayana<\/em> (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 32: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Valmiki’s Ramayana<\/em> (1975).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 32<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 31: The martial guru. Illustration from Amar Chitra Katha’s Chanakya <\/em>(1971).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 31<\/a><\/span>     The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 32: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Valmiki’s Ramayana<\/em> (1975).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 32<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

ACK was fashioned by its founder Pai, as a substitute for the dull history textbooks that contained nothing but ‘a list of persons and places, and meaningless dates’.21<\/sup><\/a><\/span> While adopting the comic-book format, Pai was determined to avoid luridness, sensationalism, and excess, associated with the western comic form since the 1950s. ACK also distanced itself from the popular aesthetic of Bombay cinema and the horror and fantasy of Hindi comic series such as Raj Comics or Manoj Comics that began to flourish in north India from the 1980s. However, as Chandra has pointed out, the ACK visual vocabulary could never completely disengage itself from the popular bazaar\/Bombay cinema aesthetic because its artists, migrant to the city, often also worked as calendar and poster artists. Consequently, all the illustrators of ACK used cinematic techniques of storytelling such as close-ups, perspective shots, long cuts, top angles, silhouettes, etc.22<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Chandra observes: ‘It is the figure of the asura\/demon and the Muslim villain, which then bore the artistic excess fulfilling at the same time the comic-book aesthetic of action and emotion, more than was permitted by the wooden faced central heroes.’23<\/sup><\/a><\/span> As we shall see, Alauddin Khilji of Padmini<\/em> is emblematic of this excess—the very opposite of ‘spiritual masculinity’.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 33: Afzal Khan, the villain. Panels from Amar Chitra Katha’s Shivaji <\/em>(1972).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 33<\/a><\/span>
\r\nAlauddin Khilji: ACK’s Supervillain?<\/strong><\/span>
\r\n
\r\nThe landscape of ACK is dotted with Muslim villains, valiantly resisted\/destroyed by Hindu\/Rajput heroes. However, few dominate a comic-book as does Alauddin Khilji. If one were to search for another (Muslim) villain that compares with him, then perhaps Afzal Khan of Shivaji<\/em> (1972) comes close. The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 34: Shivaji outmanouevres Afzal Khan. Panels from Amar Chitra Katha’s Shivaji <\/em>(1972).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.
\r\n(You may zoom in to the picture by using the zoom button on top right, and scroll up and down by dragging the image.)<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 34<\/a><\/span>A powerful commander of the Sultan of Bijapur, his alleged bigotry, idol-breaking, and plunder are portrayed in several panels (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 33: Afzal Khan, the villain. Panels from Amar Chitra Katha’s Shivaji <\/em>(1972).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 33<\/a>) leading up to his actual encounter with Maratha King Shivaji.
\r\n
\r\nAfzal Khan attempts to stab Shivaji while feigning a loving embrace, but the tiger claws on Shivaji’s fingers pierce his stomach, extracting the death-cry ‘Ya Allah’ (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 34: Shivaji outmanouevres Afzal Khan. Panels from Amar Chitra Katha’s Shivaji <\/em>(1972).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.
\r\n(You may zoom in to the picture by using the zoom button on top right, and scroll up and down by dragging the image.)<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 34<\/a>). The Khan appears giant-like compared to the diminutive but powerful Shivaji, and stereotypically decadent in his Mughal-style robes of Orientalist opulence, contrasted with the pure white of Shivaji’s attire. Hindu heroes are clad simply (even in regal costume), representing an ascetic, refined masculinity. Muslim villains (invaders\/traitors), on the other hand, appear monstrous in their physicality, marked by the excess of size, gestures, and expressions, and their costumes give them a pompous, almost ridiculous aura.
\r\n
\r\nThe Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 35: The covetous Sultan Alauddin Khilji. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 35<\/a><\/span>Afzal Khan however does not dominate the narrative (with just five panels devoted to him) as does Khilji. Our first glimpse of the sultan is in a scene of hunting: a cruel and covetous Khilji, shown in profile, watches a herd of innocent, frolicking deer through a curtain of leaves, an image that sets the stage for his ‘illegitimate’ desire for the chaste Padmini (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 35: The covetous Sultan Alauddin Khilji. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 35<\/a>). The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 36: The essence of the villain. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 36<\/a> is a close-up of Khilji’s face highlighting the malevolence of his wide, kohled eyes, ungroomed brows, pointed dark beard, bared teeth, and thick lips—resonating with the cultural stereotype of the ruthless Muslim invader. The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 36: The essence of the villain. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 36<\/a><\/span>In the ACK oeuvre, the psychological state or inner essence of a character is indicated in panels where prominence is given to the face. In Padmini<\/em>, cinematic strategies of close-up, angled, and point-of-view shots are used to establish the diabolic nature of its villain.24<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Six panels are devoted to the sultan in his harem, surrounded by women in sensuous clothing and poses. These visuals have no connection with the speech balloons, but successfully communicate to the young reader the ‘debauched masculinity’ of the Muslim sultan and reinforce gendered stereotypes of the ‘Arab’ woman which circulate in popular films\/stories based on the Arabian Nights (for instance).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 37: The debauched Sultan. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 37<\/a><\/span>    The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 38: The threat to the pure Hindu woman. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973). Artist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 38<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 39: Alauddin Khilji muses on the beauty of Padmini, even as he is warned about the valour of the Rajputs. Panels from Manoj Chitra Katha’s Gora Badal<\/em> (c. early 1980s).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 39<\/a><\/span>In The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 37: The debauched Sultan. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 37<\/a>, the strikingly white rabbit in Khilji’s arms presents a contrast to the riotous colours worn by the women of the harem (implying an uncontrolled sexuality). Its softness and ‘innocence’ combined with its captivity is symbolic of the threat that Khilji poses to the ‘pure’ Hindu woman (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 38: The threat to the pure Hindu woman. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973). Artist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 38<\/a>). Notably, the harem appears in the Hindi comic titled Gora Badal<\/em> (n.d. but roughly from the early 1980s) from MCK as well, reiterating the connection between the Khilji figure and sexual debauchery in the popular cultural imagination (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 39: Alauddin Khilji muses on the beauty of Padmini, even as he is warned about the valour of the Rajputs. Panels from Manoj Chitra Katha’s Gora Badal<\/em> (c. early 1980s).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 39<\/a>).
\r\n
\r\nThe images may be placed within a broader Orientalist aesthetic of the 19th century. Edward Said’s pioneering work has analysed how the harem figured centrally in the literary and visual traditions of 19th-century Europe, in which Muslim sexuality was routinely dissociated from human love or intimacy.25<\/sup><\/a><\/span>
\r\n
\r\nHindu Wives, Muslim Concubines<\/strong><\/span>
\r\n
\r\nThe Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 40: Wifely devotion. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 40<\/a><\/span>In contrast to the women of Alauddin’s harem, Padmini offers fruits to a reclining Ratnasen, herself seated demurely at the edge of the bed, plate in hand, embodying wifely devotion (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 40: Wifely devotion. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 40<\/a>). The image communicates the sanctity of the Hindu monogamous marital bond (notwithstanding the folklore and historical records that suggest that King Ratnasen had multiple wives, like other kings of the period).
\r\n
\r\nThe bodies of ACK heroines, especially in the comics based on mythological and legendary stories, are eroticized. Tapati Guha-Thakurta has discussed how in the oleographs and chromolithographs of the late 19th century, the photographic realism made possible by modern printing\/painting techniques allowed for a ‘seductive tangibility’ of the female body yet simultaneously turned it into a cultural symbol of ideal Indian womanhood.26<\/sup><\/a><\/span> ACK heroines too are ambivalent signs, eroticized and yet chaste. The chastity of the woman becomes a touchstone of the honour and masculinity of the Hindu hero. The following images from the comic issues Urvashi <\/em>(The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 41: Opening page of Amar Chitra Katha’s Urvashi <\/em>(1974).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 41<\/a>),27<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Savitri<\/em> (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 42: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Savitri <\/em>(1970).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 42<\/a>), and Padmini<\/em> (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 43: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 43<\/a>) are a few examples.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 41: Opening page of Amar Chitra Katha’s Urvashi <\/em>(1974).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 41<\/a><\/span>    The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 42: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Savitri <\/em>(1970).
\r\nArtist: Pratap Mullick.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 42<\/a><\/span>    The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 43: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 43<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

I also find that the figuration of the Hindu heroines of ACK shows the influence of lithographs circulating in Maharashtra in the 1950s, published from printing presses in Nagpur and Pune (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 44: Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra devata<\/em> (Where women are honoured, there divinity blossoms). Poster published by Shivraj Fine Arts Litho Works, Nagpur, c. 1950s. From the author’s personal collection.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 44<\/a>, The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 45: Poster of Matsyagandha. Publisher not mentioned, c. 1950s. From the author’s personal collection.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 45<\/a>, The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 46: Poster of Vasavadatta. Publisher not mentioned, 1951. From the author’s personal collection.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 46<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 44: Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra devata<\/em> (Where women are honoured, there divinity blossoms). Poster published by Shivraj Fine Arts Litho Works, Nagpur, c. 1950s. From the author’s personal collection.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 44<\/a><\/span>    The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 45: Poster of Matsyagandha. Publisher not mentioned, c. 1950s. From the author’s personal collection.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 45<\/a><\/span>    The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 46: Poster of Vasavadatta. Publisher not mentioned, 1951. From the author’s personal collection.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 46<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

Padmini’s sexuality, in spite of the elaborately kohled eyes, embellished choli<\/em>, and curves (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 40: Wifely devotion. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 40<\/a>, The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 43: Cover of Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 43<\/a>, The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 53: Queen Padmini in a panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 53<\/a>), is simultaneously written into the politics of caste and nation. The iconicity of her body disrupts the male gaze and does not allow it to be ‘accessible’ in the way that the bodies of the women in Khilji’s harem are (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 37: The debauched Sultan. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 37<\/a>, The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 38: The threat to the pure Hindu woman. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973). Artist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 38<\/a>, The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 39: Alauddin Khilji muses on the beauty of Padmini, even as he is warned about the valour of the Rajputs. Panels from Manoj Chitra Katha’s Gora Badal<\/em> (c. early 1980s).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 39<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

While both Hindu and Muslim women are sexualized and are drawn with certain generic features—accentuated bosoms, tiny waists, kohled eyes, and so on—the Muslim woman is placed outside the sanctified, conjugal bond (resonating with the modern bourgeois marriage), and made available for the voyeuristic gaze. The visuality of these women recalls Malek Alloula’s searing analysis of the colonial postcards with photographs of native Algerian models, captured on camera during France’s occupation of Algeria: ‘They offer their body to view as a body-to-be-possessed.’28<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The multiplicity of the harem women in ACK, vying for the attention of the sultan, embody Edward Said’s evocative characterization of the Egyptian dancer Kuchuk Hanem’s ‘dumb and ever-willing sexuality’ in Gustave Flaubert’s account.29<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 47: Wicked Khilji, gullible Ratnasen. Panels from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 47<\/a><\/span>
\r\nThe Unruly Masculinity of Khilji: Slippages and Subversions<\/strong><\/span>
\r\n
\r\nDespite the Hindu nationalist charge, the representation of Khilji resonates with a range of popular visual references that defuse the intended effect. One finds traces of the old-style Hindi film villain (given the eclectic borrowings of ACK artists) in visual elements such as the wicked laughter, exaggerated expressions, and the ‘bevy of beauties’ that surround him in several panels referred to above. The vividness of colours and a wicked but irrepressible charisma makes Khilji stand out, paling Ratnasen in comparison, making him appear stiff, unimpressive, and gullible (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 47: Wicked Khilji, gullible Ratnasen. Panels from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 47<\/a>).
\r\n
\r\nMost ACK artists kept themselves abreast of western comic-book styles. One notes a stylistic similarity between Khilji and the infamous, boisterous if deadly villain—the Joker from the Batman comic-book series. The near-constant wicked grin on Khilji’s face recalls the rictus grin of the Joker; the upswept, exaggerated eyebrows are also similar. The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 48: The Joker. Panels from the comic-book Superman and Batman’s Greatest Foes!<\/em> National Comics Publications, Inc, May\/June 1957. Artists: Dick Sprang and Stan Kaye.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 48<\/a><\/span>The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 48: The Joker. Panels from the comic-book Superman and Batman’s Greatest Foes!<\/em> National Comics Publications, Inc, May\/June 1957. Artists: Dick Sprang and Stan Kaye.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 48<\/a> shows early versions of the Joker that preceded the Khilji illustrations.
\r\n
\r\nA Hindi comic titled Chittod ka Chiragh<\/em> (also issued in English as The Gallants of Chittor<\/em>) published in the Chitra Bharati Series in the early ’80s, contains a few overtly transgressive visuals. In The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 49: Queen Padmini hears about the Sultan. Panel from the Chitra Bharati Series comic-book Chittod ka Chiragh<\/em> (early 1980s).
\r\nArtist: A.S. Chitrak.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 49<\/a>, a slave girl, having spied on Khilji with Ratnasen at the palace banquet, informs Queen Padmavati (Padmini) that none can beat the Sultan in strength, good looks, or manliness, and the Queen expresses an eager interest to see him. In The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 50: A glimpse in the mirror. Panel from the Chitra Bharati Series comic-book Chittod ka Chiragh<\/em> (early 1980s). Artist: A.S. Chitrak.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 50<\/a> when Khilji gets the chance see the queen in a mirror, the latter appears to curiously return the gaze! Ironically, in The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 51: ‘I am a Rajput woman, not a clay toy!’ Panels from the Chitra Bharati Series comic-book Chittod ka Chiragh<\/em> (early 1980s).
\r\nArtist: A.S. Chitrak.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 51<\/a> she melodramatically expresses distress at the possibility of losing her ‘honour’ to Khilji—the Hindi expression highlighting the sentimental excess.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 49: Queen Padmini hears about the Sultan. Panel from the Chitra Bharati Series comic-book Chittod ka Chiragh<\/em> (early 1980s).
\r\nArtist: A.S. Chitrak.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 49<\/a><\/span>   The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 50: A glimpse in the mirror. Panel from the Chitra Bharati Series comic-book Chittod ka Chiragh<\/em> (early 1980s). Artist: A.S. Chitrak.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 50<\/a><\/span>   The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 51: ‘I am a Rajput woman, not a clay toy!’ Panels from the Chitra Bharati Series comic-book Chittod ka Chiragh<\/em> (early 1980s).
\r\nArtist: A.S. Chitrak.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 51<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

In the section that follows, I explore how the latent, peek-a-boo game of desire and repression, villainy and charisma, are turned into a spectacle in the Hindi film Padmaavat<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

2. Padmaavat’s Khilji: An Impossible Desire<\/strong><\/u><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

More than four decades separate ACK’s Padmini<\/em> and director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat<\/em> (2018), a period drama set in 14th-century Chittor, also based on the myth of the chaste queen Padmini\/Padmavati. The basic plot lines in both texts are fairly similar, yet the responses to both have been startlingly different. Padmaavat<\/em>, even prior to its release, generated bellicose reaction from Rajput hardliner groups (such as the Karni Sena), demanding a ban alleging that the film represented a revered queen in an inappropriate manner and, thus, tarnished Rajput honour. The director was manhandled on the sets, and a bounty placed on the nose and ears of the lead actor, Deepika Padukone, by members of Hindu\/Rajput fringe outfits.30<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The following question begs to be asked: Why did Padmaavat<\/em> invite such furore, when ACK’s Padmini<\/em> was fondly welcomed in the 1970s by its upper-caste middle-class readers? The earlier comic-book versions of the legend had also contained sexualized images of its heroine. Yet, following the Padmaavat<\/em> controversy, several news story writers and bloggers recalled how the ACK Padmini<\/em> had been their first introduction to the myth.31<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

A scene with Deepika Padukone performing the ghoomar<\/em>, a traditional Rajasthani folk dance, encountered stiff opposition from Rajput women’s groups,32<\/sup><\/a><\/span> who asserted that a Rajput queen would never perform with a bared midriff in public view. The pressure forced Bhansali to cover up Padukone’s midriff (visible in an earlier version) using computer graphics.33<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Compare the ‘covered-up’ Deepika (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 52: Deepika Padukone as the Rajput queen in Padmaavat <\/em>(Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2018). https:\/\/pinkvilla.com\/entertainment\/news\/padmaavat-deepika-padukones-midriff-gets-covered-ghoomar-song-courtesy-cbfc-395992#<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 52<\/a>) with the eroticized Padmini from ACK (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 53: Queen Padmini in a panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 53<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 52: Deepika Padukone as the Rajput queen in Padmaavat <\/em>(Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2018). https:\/\/pinkvilla.com\/entertainment\/news\/padmaavat-deepika-padukones-midriff-gets-covered-ghoomar-song-courtesy-cbfc-395992#<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 52<\/a><\/span>    The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 53: Queen Padmini in a panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 53<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

There have been films based on the myth in Hindi and Tamil, produced decades before Padmaavat<\/em>. The Hindi film titled Maharani Padmini<\/em> (1964) represents Khilji as smitten by Padmini but not as lascivious; the latter even saves his life on one occasion. She eventually dies in the arms of King Ratan Singh (Ratnasen). Such adaptation was clearly necessitated by the secular Nehruvian ideology of the time. In 1988, director Shyam Benegal adapted the story for an episode of the tele-series titled Bharat Ek Khoj<\/em> (based on Jawaharlal Nehru’s The Discovery of India<\/em>). Acclaimed actor Om Puri projected the role of Khilji as a staid, practical statesman, steering it away from the stereotype of the hypersexualized Muslim male.34<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

What clearly worked against Bhansali’s Padmaavat<\/em> was the timing of its release, 2018—when the Hindu rightwing in India was on a triumphal rise, backed by electoral victory and cultural hegemony. Surely this was not the appropriate moment for excavating the uncomfortable memory of the defeat of a Hindu king by a Muslim sultan.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Further, a Bollywood film can amplify the legend in unimaginable ways, especially when crafted by a director known for his opulent visuals, epic storytelling, and spectacular, digitally generated visual effects (VFX). For my purposes here, I concentrate on this shift of medium, from comic-book to Bollywood extravaganza, and the ensuing effects. The cinematic and publicity strategies deployed in Padmaavat<\/em> magnify the masculine (evil yet seductive) prowess of Khilji, already signalled in the frames of Padmini<\/em> and other comic-books discussed in this essay. In the film, a range of new factors—the star body of Ranveer Singh (playing Khilji), the gaze of the camera, extra-filmic knowledge of the spectators, contemporary tastes and fashion—come into play, making it impossible for the myth to stay contained within a strictly polarized Hindu-Muslim binary. I look The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 54: Poster for Goliyon ki Rasleela Ram-Leela<\/em> (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2013).
\r\nhttps:\/\/tvwish.com\/Program\/Info\/Goliyon-Ki-Raasleela-Ram-Leela\/4295<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 54<\/a><\/span>at some of these refractory effects below.
\r\n
\r\nThe Intimate Enemy<\/strong><\/span>
\r\n
\r\nThe Karni Sena, prior to the release of the film, had expressed apprehension of it containing a dream sequence placing Padmavati and Khilji in romantic proximity. When the film was released, one found that the two did not even share screen space. Yet, perhaps the anxiety that an illicit desire might insinuate itself into the screen was not altogether unfounded. Ranveer and Deepika had already acted as the romantic pair in Bhansali’s earlier productions: Goliyon ki Rasleela Ram-Leela<\/em> (2013) and Bajirao Mastani<\/em> (2015).The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 55: Poster for Bajirao Mastani<\/em> (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2015).
\r\nhttp:\/\/impawards.com\/intl\/india\/2015\/bajirao_mastani_ver6.html<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 55<\/a><\/span> Images of their couplehood—glossy movie posters (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 54: Poster for Goliyon ki Rasleela Ram-Leela<\/em> (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2013).
\r\nhttps:\/\/tvwish.com\/Program\/Info\/Goliyon-Ki-Raasleela-Ram-Leela\/4295<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 54<\/a> and The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 55: Poster for Bajirao Mastani<\/em> (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2015).
\r\nhttp:\/\/impawards.com\/intl\/india\/2015\/bajirao_mastani_ver6.html<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 55<\/a>) with the two in intensely romantic poses, spectacular song and dance sequences, and a well-publicized offscreen relationship—were already widely circulated in the public domain, especially on social media. As Salma Siddique has pointed out, ‘Unlike other forms of narration, the Bollywood film has placed the Rajput queen in intimate proximity with a Muslim Sultan, admitting a non-coercive dynamic, informed by the star images.’35<\/sup><\/a><\/span> There is thus a hint of consensual desire; the lecherous masculinity of the Muslim villain overwritten by the intense\/flamboyant lover image of Ranveer Singh.
\r\n
\r\nWhile the film overtly identifies Rawal Ratan Singh (the king of Chittorgarh, played by Shahid Kapoor) as the hero, visual codes combined with other elements—dialogue, sound score, and above all, actor Ranveer Singh’s star body—work to create a darkly seductive antagonist. Below, I examine certain visual promotional material (first look, teaser images) that creates a larger-than-life villain, recalling the ACK narrative but rendered far more charismatic by the new medium.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Khal Drogo\/Alauddin Khilji<\/strong><\/span>
\r\n
\r\nThe Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 56: Khilji in Padmaavat<\/em>, Drogo in Game of Thrones<\/em>.
\r\nhttps:\/\/peepingmoon.com\/entertainment-news\/news\/13745\/The-Khilji-Khal-Drogo-Controversy-is-just-what-Padmavati-makers-needed.html<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 56<\/a><\/span>With the release of the trailer of Padmaavat<\/em>, fans were quick to point out the resemblance between Alauddin Khilji and Khal Drogo, the powerful Khal or warlord of the Dothraki, a warrior tribe of horseriders from the popular television series Game of Thrones<\/em>. Khilji and Drogo are not only similar in appearance—the long hair, the scar across the face, the intense glare enhanced by kohl-lined eyes—they are also similar in the powerful mythology that surrounds their aura as leaders. Both marry translucent-skinned women who love and fear them. While conceived within a colonial-anthropological imagination of the ‘tribal’, the muscular, sculpted bodies and charismatic appeal of the actors transform these figures into objects of desire (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 56: Khilji in Padmaavat<\/em>, Drogo in Game of Thrones<\/em>.
\r\nhttps:\/\/peepingmoon.com\/entertainment-news\/news\/13745\/The-Khilji-Khal-Drogo-Controversy-is-just-what-Padmavati-makers-needed.html<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 56<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 57: The camera’s true love, Khiliji. Still from Padmaavat <\/em>(Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2018).
\r\nhttps:\/\/scroll.in\/reel\/866569\/shooting-padmaavat-many-lights-cameras-and-the-action-that-went-into-the-films-visual-beauty<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 57<\/a><\/span>The Camera’s True Love<\/strong><\/span>
\r\n
\r\nIn Padmaavat<\/em>, the narrative sheds the indirections and detours of a comic-book primarily meant for children, and makes Khilji decidedly bestial, with long, wild hair and kohl-rimmed eyes, ripping large chunks of meat off the bone with his teeth. Notwithstanding the demonization, the visual obsession with the character is unmistakable (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 57: The camera’s true love, Khiliji. Still from Padmaavat <\/em>(Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2018).
\r\nhttps:\/\/scroll.in\/reel\/866569\/shooting-padmaavat-many-lights-cameras-and-the-action-that-went-into-the-films-visual-beauty<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 57<\/a>). Sudeep Chatterjee, Padmaavat<\/em>’s director of photography, waxes lyrical about Khilji in an interview, barely mentioning Ratan Singh:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Khilji, for instance, had to command attention. Ranveer Singh was shot in a certain way, his eyes were lit in a certain way. We used low-level eye lights for him…. That way, his face looked darker, and more evil. He had a strange vibe in his eyes—there was something vicious and ruthless and sometimes even vulnerable….36<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 58: Khilji struts his stuff. Screenshot from Padmaavat <\/em>(Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2018).
\r\nhttps:\/\/primevideo.com\/detail\/0LCQGVFVLNI8MOOGAT6T4611H2<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 58<\/a><\/span>Khilji of Padmaavat<\/em> (like his predecessor in ACK) carries shades of camp, leading to an effeminate effect, a counterpoint to the erect and regally attired Ratan Singh.37<\/sup><\/a><\/span> For instance, in the very opening sequence (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 58: Khilji struts his stuff. Screenshot from Padmaavat <\/em>(Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2018).
\r\nhttps:\/\/primevideo.com\/detail\/0LCQGVFVLNI8MOOGAT6T4611H2<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 58<\/a>) he struts into the Turkish Sultan Jalaluddin Khilji’s fort, with an ostrich on leash, in slow, swaying motion, a walk best described as a mix of masculine swagger and feminine swing of the hips (popular within the Bollywood performative register as ‘thumka<\/em>’). It is difficult to miss the over-the-top, camp connotations of his body.38<\/sup><\/a><\/span>
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\r\nOne also notes a streak of buffoonery, reminiscent of the irreverent, epic villains of cinema: Gabbar Singh of Sholay<\/em> (Embers; Ramesh Sippy, 1975), Mogambo of Mr. India<\/em> (Shekhar Kapur, 1987), or the Joker of The Dark Knight<\/em> (Christopher Nolan, 2008). In The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 36: The essence of the villain. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 36<\/a>, The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 37: The debauched Sultan. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973).
\r\nArtist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 37<\/a>, and The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 38: The threat to the pure Hindu woman. Panel from Amar Chitra Katha’s Padmini <\/em>(1973). Artist: Ram Waeerkar.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 38<\/a>, albeit in the much smaller comic format of ACK, Khilji exudes a similar aura.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 59: Ranveer Singh’s gender-fluid style at two occasions.
\r\nhttps:\/\/scoopwhoop.com\/ranveer-singh-redefining-masculinity\/<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 59<\/a><\/span>Khilji’s costumes in Padmaavat<\/em> reflect Afghan, Mongol, and Turkish influences in keeping with his origin (see The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 58: Khilji struts his stuff. Screenshot from Padmaavat <\/em>(Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2018).
\r\nhttps:\/\/primevideo.com\/detail\/0LCQGVFVLNI8MOOGAT6T4611H2<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 58<\/a>), but also carry more contemporary visual meanings resonating with Ranveer Singh’s preferred gender-fluid, flowing style of dressing in real life. Photographs of the star sporting kajal<\/em>, skirts, anarkali kurta<\/em>s, and noserings have circulated for long (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 59: Ranveer Singh’s gender-fluid style at two occasions.
\r\nhttps:\/\/scoopwhoop.com\/ranveer-singh-redefining-masculinity\/<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 59<\/a>), consolidating his image as someone who pushes the gendered economy of signs within which a Bollywood superstar is located (macho, controlled, typically different from the ‘comedian’ who might wear a sari to elicit derisive laughter). The Khilji figure, hypermasculine with shades of femininity, is re-mediated through a range of contemporary popular and urban connotations—edgy, cool, androgynous, metrosexual, and gender-fluid—thus refracting the visual effect.
\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n

A Supervillain with Queer Shades?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 60: Khilji and Kafur in a bathtub. Screenshot from Padmaavat<\/em> (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2018).
\r\nhttps:\/\/primevideo.com\/detail\/0LCQGVFVLNI8MOOGAT6T4611H2<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 60<\/a><\/span>Unlike Padmini<\/em> (or Gora Badal<\/em>), Padmaavat<\/em> does not place Khilji in a harem full of women. However, his ‘eunuch slave’ Malik Kafur (Jimmy Sarph) is firmly situated with the harem imaginary. As James Smalls has argued, along with the women, eunuchs also became a fantasy type within both literary and visual Orientalism.39<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The choice of Sarph, an actor with boyish looks, is clearly not coincidental.40<\/sup><\/a><\/span> A shot with Khilji and Kafur in a bathtub has conspicuous homoerotic overtones (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 60: Khilji and Kafur in a bathtub. Screenshot from Padmaavat<\/em> (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, 2018).
\r\nhttps:\/\/primevideo.com\/detail\/0LCQGVFVLNI8MOOGAT6T4611H2<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 60<\/a>).
\r\n
\r\nThe Khilji and Kafur relationship has lent itself to queer re-readings, disrupting the Orientalist visual references. Queer viewers in India have been divided over their response: some slamming Padmaavat<\/em>’s depiction of homoerotic desire as demeaning and stereotypical, and others celebrating it as liberating. Queer filmmaker Onir feels that Khilji shares more chemistry with Kafur than with anyone else in the movie.41<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 61: Collage shared by Ranveer Singh on Twitter: (left to right) Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange<\/em> played by Malcolm McDowell; the Joker from The Dark Knight<\/em> played by Heath Ledger; and Khilji from Padmaavat <\/em>played by Ranveer Singh.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 61<\/a><\/span>On the eve of Padmaavat<\/em>’s release, Ranveer Singh shared on Twitter a picture collage made up of three figures—Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange<\/em>\u200a42<\/sup><\/a><\/span> (Stanley Kubrick, 1971) played by Malcolm McDowell; the Joker from The Dark Knight <\/em>played by Heath Ledger; and himself as Khilji (The Muslim ‘Other’: Figures of Evil and Charisma\r\nfrom Popular Visual Culture in India<\/h4>Deepa Sreenivas<\/span>

Fig. 61: Collage shared by Ranveer Singh on Twitter: (left to right) Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange<\/em> played by Malcolm McDowell; the Joker from The Dark Knight<\/em> played by Heath Ledger; and Khilji from Padmaavat <\/em>played by Ranveer Singh.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 61<\/a>).
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\r\nAlex’s left eye (not seen in the collage) is covered by the brim of his hat while the right eye protrudes with extra-long fake eyelashes (in the manner of a showgirl) over a cold blue eyeball. He indulges in what he calls ‘a bit of the old ultraviolence’, referring to random acts of mindless violence. The persona of the Joker is constituted through several queer signifiers—garish facial makeup replete with lipstick, a tendency to invade the space of male characters, especially Batman, and the manner of walk\/speech. Interestingly, the diary of the late Heath Ledger as he prepared to play the Joker contained several photographs of DeLarge.43<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The collage daringly re-situates Khilji within an interplay of contemporary popular cultural citations.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Padmini myth has been deployed time and again since the late 19th century by a Hindu masculinist discourse seeking the martialization of the Hindu male against the lustful Muslim Other, constructed as a threat to the honour of the Hindu woman\/nation. As Charu Gupta puts it:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

There was a clever appropriation of certain legends and myths, by resorting to falsified historical narratives, leading to a cultural acceptance in collective Hindu memory of such myths of the medieval Muslim rapist…. The legend of Padmini and Alauddin is a potent example of this.44<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

While Padmini<\/em> and Padmaavat<\/em> are both based on Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s 16th-century epic, each has actively redeployed the myth. As we have seen, each text has drawn on the Hindu majoritarian discourse but has also opened up transgressive possibilities. ACK is located in a post-Nehruvian moment, its readers (children but also adults) mainly from urban middle-class homes that still subscribed to a syncretic (if upper-caste, Hindu) ethos. So the series strikes a delicate balance between secularism and Hindu nationalism. Its Khilji, channelled through popular culture and Bombay film sensibility, may be evil but still can aspire to the status of a comic-book (super)-villain. In Padmaavat<\/em>, the digitally-enhanced medium amplifies the Khilji’s charisma, bringing back the memory of Rajput defeat in a medieval era into the contemporary triumphalist discourse of Hindu machismo. Such a resurrection, despite Bhansali’s many disavowals, is simply too threatening. Also as we have seen, the image of Khilji crisscrosses several other popular icons and meaning, not allowing a unitary reading of the villain as ‘evil’. The fact that the accolades went to Ranveer Singh for his performance of Khilji, far overshadowing Rawal Ratan Singh, establishes the instability and intractability of this figure—as one that straddles the thin line between villainous evil and masculine charisma!<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Acknowledgements<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

I am grateful to Christiane Brosius, Sumathi Ramaswamy, and Yousuf Saeed for their perceptive feedback and involvement at all stages of this essay. My warm acknowledgements to Shefali Jha, Viju Kurian, and Shikha Sreenivas for their invaluable insights.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The comic panels illustrated in this essay are used purely for academic\/educational purposes.
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Notes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n

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1<\/a><\/sup> See Hansen, Thomas Blom, The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India<\/em>, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999; Pandey, Gyanendra, ‘In Defense of the Fragment: Writing about Hindu-Muslim Riots in India Today’, Representations<\/em>, No. 37, 1992, pp. 27–55; and Dwyer, Rachel, ‘The Saffron Screen? Hindu Nationalism and the Hindi Film’, in Religion, Media and the Public Sphere<\/em>, edited by Brigit Meyer and Annelies Moors, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. Hansen and Pandey discuss the emergence of Hindu symbolism and rituals in the political and public spheres in India from the 1980s. Dwyer points out the manifestation of the Hindutva ideology in Hindi cinema around the same time.<\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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2<\/a><\/sup> Deepa Sreenivas (Sculpting a Middle Class: History, Masculinity and the Amar Chitra Katha in India<\/em>, New Delhi: Routledge, 2010) examines how the ACK comics refashion the mythology, legends, and history of India to construct a masculine upper-caste self as the model for middle-class children. The Muslim figure, on the other hand, is either demonized or rendered as non-threatening.<\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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3<\/a><\/sup> As Charu Gupta has analysed, ‘“Love Jihad” or “Romeo Jihad” is a construct of the Hindu Right, supposed to have been launched by Muslim fundamentalists and youthful Muslim men (the love jihadi<\/em>) to convert Hindu and Christian women to Islam by luring them through expressions of false love.’ See Gupta, Charu, ‘Hindu Women, Muslim Men: Love Jihad and Conversions’, Economic and Political Weekly<\/em>, Vol. 44, No. 51, 19 December 2009, pp. 13–15.<\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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4<\/a><\/sup> See Chandra, Nandini, The Classic Popular: Amar Chitra Katha 1967–2007<\/em>, New Delhi: Yoda Press, 2008; McLain, Karline, India’s Immortal Comic Books: Gods, Kings and Other Heroes<\/em>, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2009; Sreenivas, Sculpting a Middle Class<\/em>.<\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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5<\/a><\/sup> Sanderson, Peter, and Eury, Michael, ‘Supervillain: Fictional Character’, https:\/\/britannica.com\/art\/supervillain<\/a><\/u>, accessed on 2 March 2019.<\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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6<\/a><\/sup> Alsford, Mike, Heroes and Villains<\/em>, Texas, USA: Baylor University Press, 2006, p. 95.<\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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7<\/a><\/sup> Chandra, The Classic Popular<\/em>, p. 75.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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8<\/a><\/sup> See Sreenivas, Sculpting a Middle Class<\/em>, pp. 104–07; and Chowdhury, Indira, The Frail Hero and Virile History: Gender and Politics of Culture in Colonial Bengal<\/em>, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 129.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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9<\/a><\/sup> McLain, India’s Immortal Comic Books<\/em>, p. 142.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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10<\/a><\/sup> See ibid., pp. 142–43 for an extended analysis.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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11<\/a><\/sup> See Chandra, The Classic Popular<\/em>, pp. 91–92.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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12<\/a><\/sup> Dwyer, ‘The Saffron Screen?’, p. 143.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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13<\/a><\/sup> http:\/\/comic-guy.blogspot.com\/2009\/07\/cmvitankar.html<\/a><\/u><\/font>, accessed on 4 September 2019.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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14<\/a><\/sup> Cited in McLain, India’s Immortal Comic Books<\/em>, p. 149.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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15<\/a><\/sup> Jane Buckingham, ‘Symbolism and Power: Elephants and Gendered Authority in the Mughal World’, Oxford Scholarship Online<\/em>, published online November 2016, accessed on 3 February 2019.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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16<\/a><\/sup> Note that Akbar<\/em> and Prithviraj Chauhan<\/em> were both illustrated by P.B. Kavadi. <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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17<\/a><\/sup> McLain, India’s Immortal Comic Books<\/em>, p. 160.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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18<\/a><\/sup> Ibid, p. 149.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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19<\/a><\/sup> Ibid., pp. 153–54.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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20<\/a><\/sup> Cited in Chowdhury, The Frail Hero<\/em>, p. 127.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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21<\/a><\/sup> Pai, Anant, ‘Chitra Katha in School Education’, Seminar on the Role of Chitra Katha on Education, 14 February 1978 (brochure), Delhi: India Book House.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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22<\/a><\/sup> See Chandra, The Classic Popular<\/em> , pp. 116–20 for an extended discussion. <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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23<\/a><\/sup> Ibid., p. 124. <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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24<\/a><\/sup> Sreenivas, Sculpting a Middle Class<\/em> , pp. 61–62. <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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25<\/a><\/sup> See Said, Edward, Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient<\/em>, New York: Vintage Books, 1978, p. 187; and Ali, Isra, ‘The Harem Fantasy in Nineteenth-Century Orientalist Painting’, Dialectical Anthropology<\/em>, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2015, pp. 33–46. <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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26<\/a><\/sup> Guha-Thakurta, Tapati, ‘Women as “Calendar Art” Icons: Emergence of Pictorial Stereotype in Colonial India’, Economic and Political Weekly<\/em>, Vol. 26, No. 43, 26 October 1991, p. WS-91.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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27<\/a><\/sup> Curiously enough, Urvashi, a dancer in the court of the king of gods, Indra, is given the status of the ‘celestial dancer’—an apsara<\/em>, thus dissociating her from being a mere object of pleasure. With the consent of Indra, she lives with King Pururavas for a few years as his wife, but ultimately has to go back as per the dictat of the god. One may read this as an act of transaction between men, but it is her ‘conjugality’ that is highlighted. However, her body is flagrantly sexualized, much more than that of the other ‘Hindu wives’. <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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28<\/a><\/sup> Alloula, Malek, The Colonial Harem<\/em>, Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 1986, p. 118. <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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29<\/a><\/sup> See Said, Orientalism<\/em>, p. 187; and Ali, ‘The Harem Fantasy’. <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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30<\/a><\/sup> Karni Sena leader Mahipal Singh Makrana refers to the nose-chopping of the rakshasi<\/em> Surpanakha by Lakshmana in the epic Ramayana<\/em> while threatening Padukone with the same fate. https:\/\/deccanchronicle.com\/nation\/current-affairs\/250118\/chop-off-deepika-padukones-nose-ears-and-get-rs-1-cr-reward-kshat.html<\/a><\/u><\/font>, accessed on 15 November 2019.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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31<\/a><\/sup> To cite one writer: ‘Like most children of my TV-less generation, I had also read the story of Rani Padmini’s jauhar first in Amar Chitra Katha comics.’ https:\/\/outlookindia.com\/magazine\/story\/padmini-and-the-elite\/299569<\/a><\/u><\/font>, accessed on 1 December 2019.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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32<\/a><\/sup> For instance, the group named Kshatrani Sankalp. See https:\/\/hindustantimes.com\/jaipur\/a-rajput-queen-would-never-perform-ghoomar-before-an-audience-nor-bare-her-midriff\/story-cv5It1e8mi0ty3hvhjPGvL.html<\/a><\/u><\/font>, accessed on 15 November 2019.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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33<\/a><\/sup> https:\/\/ndtv.com\/entertainment\/deepika-padukones-padmavati-ghoomar-slammed-maharanis-never-danced-for-anyone-1775824<\/a><\/u><\/font>, accessed on 15 November 2019.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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34<\/a><\/sup> When Raghav Chetan attempts to lure him with descriptions of Padmini’s beauty, he responds: ‘I have 1,600 wives. Why Padmavati?’ The episode begins with the narrator’s cautionary voiceover: ‘The lore of Padmavat is a fascinating account of the feudal traditions of the period, where the moral message is more important than historical truth.’ See the episode titled Padmavat and The Tughlak Dynasty<\/em> aired in 1988, Bharat Ek Khoj<\/em> (Shyam Benegal, 1988), https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=jQesnBDgyQk&t=125s<\/u><\/a><\/font>, accessed on 11 March 2019. <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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35<\/a><\/sup> Siddique, Salma, ‘The Futility of Dreaming of the Padmavati-Khilji Dream Sequence’, 2017, https:\/\/thewire.in\/communalism\/futility-dreaming-padmavati-khiljis-dream-sequence<\/a><\/u><\/font>, accessed on 2 March 2019. <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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36<\/a><\/sup> https:\/\/scroll.in\/reel\/866569\/shooting-padmaavat-many-lights-cameras-and-the-action-that-went-into-the-films-visual-beauty<\/u><\/a><\/font>, accessed 3 December 2019.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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37<\/a><\/sup> Edward Said has written about the feminization and infantilization of Arabs by travellers, writers, and painters from the Occidental world. See Said, Orientalism<\/em>. <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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38<\/a><\/sup> Susan Sontag writes: ‘Camp is art that proposes itself seriously, but cannot be taken altogether seriously because it is “too much”.’ Sontag, Susan, ‘Notes on Camp’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays<\/em>, <\/em>e-book, Picador. <\/strong><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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39<\/a><\/sup> Smalls, James, ‘Menace at the Portal: Masculine Desire and the Homoerotics of Orientalism’, in Orientalism, Eroticism and Modern Visuality in Global Cultures, <\/em>edited by Joan DelPlato and Julie F. Codell, London and New York: Routledge, 2016, p. 38.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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40<\/a><\/sup> European writers and painters since the 18th century have reinforced popular notions of ‘the Arab’s penchant for rape, sodomy, pederasty, and violence’. Ibid., p. 37. <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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41<\/a><\/sup> Onir states: ‘I thought Khilji had more chemistry with Kafur in the movie than anyone else. https:\/\/asianage.com\/entertainment\/bollywood\/280118\/padmaavats-queery-tale.html<\/a><\/u><\/font>, accessed on 2 March 2019.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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42<\/a><\/sup> From a Cockney expression, ‘as queer as a clockwork orange’.<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n