Supremo: The comic book superhero inspired by Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Bachchan, the very name of this living legend conjures up the visuals of immortal scenes from iconic movies like Don, Deewaar, Silsila, Sharaabi and many more. But very few of you can actually associate him with books, that too, a comic book, right? Well, it turns out that an entire series was created in the 1980s after him. Titled The Adventures of Amitabh Bachchan, this series was published by India Book House (IBH) where Bachchan was portrayed as the quintessential superhero fighting crimes. Here, we shed light on how the concept and the character emerged and more. 

The inception 
The idea of creating a comic book superhero with Bachchan as the superhero is unique for sure. But it didn’t arise out of the blue. There’s a little bit of a story behind it. One day, when Pammi Bakshi, a leading publisher of IBH, was standing in the balcony of her apartment in Mumbai, she saw three kids playing in the compound of her neighbourhood. One of them declared himself was Superman while the other one said that he was Batman who can scale up a building of any height. Interestingly, the third kid didn’t take the superhero route. He proudly said that he was Amitabh Bachchan, the man who can beat up 10 bad guys singlehandedly. Yes, this is the genesis of the idea of The Adventures of Amitabh Bachchan. After Bachchan agreed to lend his name to the series, Bakshi roped in long-time friend Gulzar as a script consultant. However, he only wrote the first few issues and the subsequent ones were scripted by actress Sudha Chopra. The illustrator of this comic book series was Pratap Mullick, the artist of the famous Amar Chitra Katha.  

Supremo: The quintessential superhero  
Now that you know how the idea of The Adventures of Amitabh Bachchan emerged, let’s delve a little deep into the character of the protagonist and his heroic feats. The superhero modelled after Bachchan in this comic book series, was named Supremo. Here’s a little tidbit for you: Bachchan’s Pukar co-star, Randhir Kapoor, used to call him by this nickname. 

Are you wondering how Supremo looks like? He appears in a tight-fitting pink outfit along with a wrap and holster, a pendant around his neck and a pair of large sunglasses, hiding his eyes. Interestingly, this superhero has a knack for music (he carries around a Walkman!) and loves to munch on peanuts.  

Our Supremo has a whole island to himself (no less!) where he lives happily with a bunch of allies. His world in that secluded island is peopled by two boys, Vijay and Anthony, the unforgettable characters played by Bachchan, a pet golden whale named Sonali and a swift falcon Shaheen, inspired by Alla Rakha from Coolie, another iconic movie of the superstar. While the two boys guard the island, Sonali is in charge of protecting the ocean. Shaheen, on the other hand, is the spy who alerts Supremo of any danger well in advance by waving her wings rapidly.   

This comic book series portrays Supremo as someone who has the perfect balance of strength and intelligence, but doesn’t possess any super power as such. Through various episodes of The Adventures of Amitabh Bachchan, he is seen protecting the island from invaders, saving the world from aliens, rescuing kids from hijackers, finding out stolen idols, fighting child adoption rackets and dacoit Malan Devi and what not! But the most significant of his adventures is that of unearthing the secret of a lost city named Atlantis.  

But wait, does Supremo only fight crimes and uncover secrets? Not at all. He shoots movies and makes films when he is in his non superhero avatar. Now, that is what makes him all the more interesting!