A few years ago, an unlikely goddess was added to India’s already overpopulated pantheon. Going by the name of Savita Bhabhi (meaning sister-in-law), she gave a new twist to the term comic strip: she was India’s first pornographic cartoon character. A 29-year-old housewife, Bhabhi had a dedicated website and thousands of dedicated followers. But just a year after its launch in mid-2009, the government, in a fit of moral policing, banned the site and Savita’s sexual shenanigans were no longer available for free viewing.
My piece on the evolution of comics in India appeared in the Sunday Review of South China Morning Post. Read on…