Vimanika announces Sketch Karna contest winners

Mumbai based Vimanika Comics has announced the winners of its Sketch Karna contest. The contest had participants create their own sketch of Karna, Vimanika‘s mythological warrior. The winner of the contest is Dildeep Singh, whose services will be hired by Vimanika Comics for its upcoming projects.

Check out the results here

Meet the 'heroic knight' of Vimanika Comics!

"As a youngster, I used to love Lord of the Rings, but I realised that none of the world famous fantasy tales centre around Indian mythological heroes."

Yet another story about Karan Vir Arora and his dreams which culminated in India's best mythological comics -Vimanika.

Interested? Read this article completely

Vimanika after a year!

It was about a year ago that Mumbai-based Karan Vir Arora got the idea of opening an Indian comics company on the lines of international pop culture giants like DC comics, Marvel, and Dark Horse comics.

Thus came along Vimanika, an Indian comics company that publishes comics and graphic novels based exclusively on Indian mythology. Karan Vir Arora, director and editor-in- chief, Vimanika, believes that it wasn’t only the scarcity of Indian comic companies that propelled this venture.
It was a three-point agenda that included educating the youth around the world about Indian culture, heritage and spiritual values, the need to share the art of narration and visualisation to the world, which his brother indoctrinated in him from childhood.

“And we wanted our graphic novel titles to be created into live action movies and animated movies à la like Frank Miller’s 300, Superman and Batman,” he adds.

Read the complete article

Tale of a warrior

The Karna story in the Mahabharata has always fascinated people.

Amitabh Bachchan's angry young man persona in the Seventies is an avatar of Karna — he is a victim of society, a skilled, resourceful warrior and generous to a fault. Karna is the archetypal anti-hero. So, it came as no surprise that Vimanika Comics chose this tragic character as the protagonist for its graphic novel series, The Sixth: The Legend of Karna. The slim, colourful book with its spirited illustrations was recently launched.

Read the whole story

So how did the Legend of Karna come about?

Quite a few Vimaniks are right to wonder about how The Legend of Karna came about. Well, here is the secret, as revealed by Karan Vir Arora, the man behind the new graphic novel that brings the legendary warrior of the Mahabharata alive, like never before.

An encounter with a sage in Bihar took Karan Vir Arora, the conceptual director of Vimanika Comics, on a journey through Mahabharata. It was through the pages of this epic that he came across Karna, the sun warrior, who really inspired him.

Thus began a news article in Bengaluru's Deccan Herald, during the launch of the novel in the same metro recently.

“I was totally bored with the same old Batman, Spiderman and Superman kind of comics. There’s actually a whole genre of comics that people have not even heard of so when I came across Karna, I thought he would be a new and colourful character for the Indian reader. Moreover, each time we hear only Krishna’s version. Through this novel, we would like to show people Karna’s version,” explained Karan, as he spoke about the genesis of the mythological character.

Read the article here

And here's wishing you Vimaniks a great new year ahead!

Vimanika’s graphical tryst with Karna

The December 8 launch of the 'Legend of Karna' received some excellent media coverage. Here are some excerpts from the many nice things Bangalore Mirror said about
Vimanika Comics as well as Karan Vir Arora, its tour de force:

"The scene is the present. The protagonist is from way back. Karna, the unfortunate hero of The Mahabharata, comes back as a contemporary reincarnation in the form of business tycoon Karan Vir. Never mind that it is also the name of the man behind the latest graphic novel The Sixth: The Legend of Karna. Karan Vir Arora, editor-in-chief of Vimanika Comics, hopes to give Indian mythology a graphic novel treatment.

He explains, “Graphic novels are visually appealing with very colourful pictures. They are in book format and have thicker pages than comics. I realised that there was a vacuum of new concepts as big publication houses continued with the same old style of comics. I felt that readers were getting bored and so decided to introduce mythology in this form. I aim to create mythology and comic cult in India.”

The report goes on to explain the scenes behind the creation of this graphic novel, dwelling upon the efforts of Deepam Chatterjee, its writer as well Amit Thayal, the man in charge of the graphics themselves.

karan Vir himself shed light on the upcoming issue saying: “The next book will pick up when Karna is 12-years-old. The story of Karna is unravelled to his present day reincarnation,
Karan Vir."

Tryst with graphic Karna: Read the complete article here

Legend of Karna, now in Bangalore!

Following its November launch in Mumbai, The Sixth: The Legend of Karna will be released in Bangalore today. Acording to Karan Vir Arora, the driving force behind Vimanika Comics, the publishers of 'The Legend...', Bangalore has long been a nerve centre of graphic comic culture.

Priced attractively at Rs 150, 'The Legend of Karna' is undoubtedly a good buy, feels Karan.
The latest edition features an advanced graphic version of the life and times of Karna, as well as his re-incarnation, a multimillionaire do-gooder named Karan Vir Oberoi.

Where in Bangalore: Oxford Book Store, Leela Galleria, Leela Palace

Vimanika Jai Ho!

Vimanika has done it again. On October 21, Vimanika launched what is perhaps one of its most prestigious projects till date – 'The Sixth-The Legend of Karna' - a graphic novel based on the firstborn son of Kunti who would go on to play a significant legendary role in the mother of all battles – the Mahabharata.

Compartmentalized into two sections, 'The Legend...' traces the genesis of Karna, borne of the union of Kunti, the daughter of King Kuntibhoj and Surya, the Sun God, thanks to a boon granted to Kunti by Durvasa, the mean-tempered sage.

The story is brought to life by superb graphics and riveting dialogues. Quite a lot of research has gone into the making of the legend, which becomes apparent as one traverses the pages, on a mythological trip.

The first section deals with the return of the young multi-millionaire Karan Vir Oberoi who has mysterious experiences – he has recurring dreams of a mythical Indian warrior who chants Sanskrit shlokas. While in Chicago on a business trip, he is set upon by assailants, none of which make any sense to Karan. However, his curiosity is piqued and as per his mother's suggestion, he sets out to India to seek answers.

'The Legend..' is the first Indian graphic novel to debut in the US; it shall be released in fifteen more volumes. Vimanika also has plans to enter the mobile platform as well as gaming and animation soon.

Credits:
Concept: Karan Vir Arora
Script: Deepam Chatterjee
Art: Amit Thayal
Colorist: Ashwin C