Bantul the Great

Batul, Bantul, Batul the Great, or Bantul the Great (Bengali: বাঁটুল দি গ্রেট) is a popular Bengali comic strip character created by Narayan Debnath. Bantul the great is originally India's first untelevised superhero. It first appeared and still appears in a children's magazine called Shuktara and is widely read, not only by children but by adults as well. It has since appeared in a comic book format and as an animation series.

Bantul the Great
Genre	Superhero
Author	Narayan Debnath
Illustrator	Narayan Debnath
Publisher	Deb Sahityo Kutir
Magazine	Shuktara
Handa Bhonda, Nonte Phonte, Bahadur Beral

Origin

Narayan Debnath's first comic book characters in color were for the comic strip and book Batul The Great. By Debnath's admission, he thought up the idea of the superhero while returning from College Street, Calcutta. He has remarked that the character of Batul or Bantul was influenced by his friend Manohar Aich, the famous Bengali bodybuilder. The name came to him instantly and he thought up the figure of the protagonist rapidly. Initially, he did not know what he foresaw as a future for Batul or Bantul and did not give him any superpowers. This character is said to have similarities with Desperate Dan.

When the Bangladesh War of Liberation, also known as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 flared up, he was asked by the editors and publishers to add an aura of invincibility. Debnath was reluctant at first because he was worried about legal implications. On assurance, he made Batul a superhero. Bullets began to bounce off of him, much like Superman. Batul was still drawn by Debnath for Shuktara. It has been argued that the historical and cultural significance of Bantul is that he "became a symbol of formidability, a much needed push for the Bengalis in the Bangladesh Liberation War, 1971."

Theme

The protagonist of the story, Batul or Bantul, is a superhero, with a well-built wide body, has an excessively large/broad chest and god-like strength. He is around 6 feet and 2 inches tall and weighs 500 kilos (1102 lbs.) and is so strong that he can lift the whole earth, run through a wall breaking it to pieces, kill whales and sharks barehanded, and even missiles cannot pierce his chest. He has a great appetite and sometimes has a whale for his breakfast. Unlike other heroes, Batul or Bantul does not wear any attractive attire. Rather, he is always seen clad in a pink or orange vest and black shorts. He is the terror of dacoits and hooligans, and protects the good. Sometimes, Bantul's amazing strength is the cause of his downfall. This is especially true when he is trying to operate machinery, since he usually breaks it. Another example, depicted in the panel, shows him trying to ride a bull in a rodeo, but due to his weight, the legs of the bull get embedded in the ground. He is also a portrayed as an intelligent detective in the animation series.

During the early years as a comic book character, Bantul was immensely powerful but lacked superhuman intelligence. He did not possess some abilities such as being lightning quick or having divine powers. But his body was indeed hard enough for him to be able to tank bullets, missile attacks and explosions. Bantul still ate a whale for breakfast and could run through a solid house or apartment breaking it into pieces. Over the years, the strength of Batul or Bantul also increased, with him now being able to even expand or contract the size of his body, having infinite physical strength and even being able to lift the entire sun or any unmovable entity. He is now a superhero possessing supreme intellect along with having an unmatched mental and physical strength. He is also known to be immune to the effects of the most powerful weapons, dark magic or any kinds of physical/mental manipulation. Bantul has performed several planetary and multiversal feats in the animation series.

Both in the comics and the animated series, he is widely shown to be the savior of the good and the destroyer of hooligans, dacoits, monsters, evil scientists, cosmic beings and aliens. Bantul's updated powers in the animation series makes him one of the most powerful superheroes of modern times similar to the strongest incarnations of DC's Superman and Marvel's Thor or even more powerful. With Bantul stays two mischievous boys viz. Bachhu (Bengali: বাচ্চু) and Bichchu (Bengali: বিচ্ছু) (also sometimes referred to as Goja গজা and Bhoja ভজা ), who regularly play truant at school, often conspire with robbers and even commit daring crimes like bank robberies. Other characters in the comic strip include Lambakarna, who has long ears and superhuman hearing, Nitai da, who is a servant of Batobyal Sir. Batobyal Sir (a game teacher) is another character who is also a very close neighbor of Bantul, Bantul's aunt, who cooks food for him; Bantul's formidable pet dog Vedo, and a pet ostrich, Uto. He can also ignite flames and also be immune to its effects.

Powers and Abilities

Batul or Bantul the great has the following powers and abilities as shown in the animated series and the comics:

1. He has the power of indestructibility.
2. He cannot be captured or harmed without his own will.
3. He has superhuman intellect.
4. He is a supreme hand-to-hand combatant.
5. His body is impenetrable.
6. He is an expert detective.
7. He is immune to the effects of any godly, natural or man-made weapons.
8. He has superhuman speed.
9. He has superhuman stamina.
10. He has superhuman reflexes.
11. He has superhuman durability.
12. He has shapeshifting ability.
13. He has superhuman breath allowing him to exhale huge volumes of air and extinguish fire or destroy any obstruction in his path.
14. He has superhuman strength allowing him to even lift or destroy the planets, sun, moon and other galaxies.
15. He is immune to magic or dark magic.
16. He is immune to reality warping.
17. He can easily survive universal or planetary destruction.
18. He is immune to any form of manipulation.
19. He is omnipotent.
20. He is the possessor of divine power.

Animation

Bantul the Great
Title card
বাঁটুল দি গ্রেট
Genre	Detective Thriller Comedy
Created by	Arijit Bhadra
Screenplay by	Arijit Bhadra
Directed by	Arijit Bhadra
Voices of	Naren Bhattacharya Rupan Dasgupta Arijit Bhadra
Music by	Sudipto Saha
Opening theme	"Bantul The Great"
Country of origin	India
Original language	Bengali
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	555 (as on Zee5)
Production
Executive producer	Arpita Bose
Producer	Arijit Bhadra
Editor	Shyam Sundar Halder
Production company	Animatrix Multimedia
Original release
Network	Zee Bangla

Bantul The Great is an Indian animated series created and produced by Arijit Bhadra. The series based on Narayan Debnath's same name comic strip. The series started airing on Zee Bangla from 4 July 2010, airing every Sunday and airing everyday from 29 March 2020 with some repeated episodes, making it one of the most successful animated cartoon series of Bengali Television. It now airs on Zee Bangla from 9am to 10am.

Characters

• Bantul
• Bachchhu
• Bichchhu
• Lambakarna
• Nitai
• Batobyal sir
• Noshu Ghosh
• Ghansa
• Boccha
• Daroga Babu

Voice artists

• Naren Bhattacharya as Bantul
• Rupan Dasgupta as Bachchhu
• Arijit Bhadra as Bichchhu

See also

• Handa Bhonda
• Nonte Phonte

Further reading

• Chatterjee, Sourav. "The Itineraries of a Medium: Bengali Comics, and New Ways of Reading," in Interdisziplinäre Zeitschrift für Südasienforschung (Nr. 5), 2019.
• Chatterjee, Sourav. "Masculinity in the Bengali Comic Strips of the 1960s," in Trajectories of Popular Expression: Forms, Histories, Contexts, Eds. N. Sethi and A. Saha, 2018.
• Chatterjee, Sourav. "“YES SIR!” 50 years of Nationalism and the Indo-Pak War in Narayan Debnath's Bñātul the Great," in The International Journal of Comic Art, Vol. 18, No. 1, Ed. John Lent (Pennsylvania: Spring, 2016).
• Chatterjee, Sourav. "Batul: the Great Disciplinarian," in The International Journal of Comic Art, Vol. 17, No. 2, Ed. John Lent (Pennsylvania: Fall/Winter, 2015).

External links

• Read Bantul Comics on the internet
• Page on Batul from International Heroes website