Asterix and Chacha Chaudhary

Heard of 'Three Men in a Boat'? To say nothing of the Dog, obviously...Well, this article is not about that. But yes, it definitely talks about two extremely different premises- as different as the first 'Jerome' is from the second 'Jerome' in the eponymous reference I just spilled. 

Two different premises: two different men- one short, tiny, nimble, agile; the other tall, strong, bulky, innocent, and having anger issues at times. 'Asterix and Obelix'? 'Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu'? To say nothing of the dog? 'Dogmatix' and 'Rocket'?  

The fondest comic characters of our grandparents' and parents' generations have stark resemblance that few can deny. Pran, our very own Indian 'Walt Disney' gave life to Chacha Chaudhary back in 1970- a time when Rene Goscinny's and Albert Uderzo's 'Asterix and Obelix' series had already swept the imagination of kids, young adults and comic lovers across regions and ages. 

The Franco-Belgian Bande Dessinee legends that the lovable Gauls became is a story of great writing, illustration, humour and of course intelligent embedded referencing. Chacha Chaudhary on the other hand catered to a very different audience altogether as Pran drew prolifically. However, the tomes of work that Chacha has featured in: comics, columns, strips, articles, advertisements, television adaptations, cartoons etc. is testimony to the fact that he is a larger than life celebrity just like his European Counterpart. 

It is amazing how a massive following of these comics have turned these imaginary characters into sort of 'real people'. Yet, their looks inspire similar attributes. It can be the bodily features or the common colour scheme...

Though the characters of Asterix in most of their 38 issues are drawn with trademark consistency, the characters in Chacha Chaudhary series have been drawn in a plethora of ways due to their rampant presence in countless issues. 

After the deaths of their original creators, Pran in 2014, of Goscinny in 1977 and of Uderzo most recently this year, the series did face questions on their continuity (with respect to scripting and illustration) but due to the massive admiration that adorns their names, the characters resume to thrive in their new adventures. 

Where Asterix and Obelix keep reappearing courtesy their historical puns and exquisitely relevant humour, Chacha and Sabu embark on journeys that are inspired from the current times. Their Corona Virus references that went 'viral' (sorry about the pun- but these are vitalstatistix, if you have an issue you might as well getafix.) display their localized yet universal brand of 'funny/punny.'

As for the villains, Julius Cesar and Raaka have absolutely no similarity. Raaka's consumption of magic potion for immortality however has some affinity to magic notions (widespread in both comics).

Dogmatix and Rocket? Their status is similar. Both are stray yet community pets. And instrumental in some crucial life-saving incidents. Rocket has been drawn in so many ways that we don't really know what he really looks like actually. Basically if both the comics are in the same boat (in some terms they are, and in many they aren't), we won't say anything about the dogs.