Watch out Catwoman, here comes Devi

NEW DELHI: If you dig the twin avatars of Catwoman and Wonderwoman, you’ll just love Devi. A desi version of the Western world’s super heroine, Devi is the first Indian comic char acter that will be launched by Gotham Studios sometime next year.
A concept created by Deepak Chopra and Shekhar Kapur, and executed by Gotham Chopra and Sharad Deverajan, Devi is just the first of a series of properties that Gotham Studios plans to launch.
"The concept behind Devi is simple," says Deepak Chopra.
"Devi is a representation of the sacred and the profane that exists within all of us. It is a recognition of the alter-ego, an acceptance that both unconditional lust as well as forbidden lust exist in the same person, it is an understanding of the ambiguities of our soul and the opposing energies that lie within it."
"Devi is an adaption of the Sita-Shakti concept," says Shekhar Kapur.
"The idea behind it has been to delve into mythology and cater to the growing global appetite for cultural and spiritual stories. We’ve also planned an adaptation of the Ramayana that will be presented in a contemporary, art noir style."
So, who is Devi, after all? "Devi is the wife of a policeman in India. She is hom-ely and beautiful but has no sexual energy," explains Deepak.
"Her husband looks outside his house for a woman — who will desire him and fulfil his desires — and also finds her. The irony, though, is that both characters are the same woman."
Is there a market for more comic books across the world? "Our research indicates that global sales of comic books are a multi-billion dollar a year market, driven in large part by the Japanese market which alone accounts for approximately $4.5 billion in annual comic sales," says Sharad Devarajan, CEO, Gotham Studios Asia.
"Also with an increasingly global appetite for character properties, worldwide retail sales for character licensing were estimated at over $40 billion in 2002.
"We believe that Asian content has a global appeal that resonates with audiences from Bombay to Beijing to Boston."
But an Indian superhero? Is Superman ready to pass on his cape to Ram in Ramayan? "I think there will always be a universal audience for characters such as Spiderman and Batman. However, the recent introduction of Harry Potter and Pokemon show the world that there is still plenty of room to originate new globally-powerful brands. Our content relies heavily on tapping into the primal mythologies of the Indian market and integrating them into contemporary storylines. Globally-successful movies such as the Lord of the Rings are proof of the potential of exploring this genre," says Gotham Chopra.