Read Tintin? Well, you've an option now of flinging out the trusted Snowy, Thompson and Thompson, Professor Cuthbert Calculus and Bianca Castafiore from the pages. Only to greet their desi equivalents — Natkhat, Santu and Bantu, Ayabhatta Suryamukhi and Mailika Castafiore respectively, who blether only in Hindi.
Though diehard Tintin fans, who have been savouring the adventures of this pokey Belgian reporter in English so far, might think twice before crossing the fence, the move is essentially to present the celebrated comic character to our Hindi readers. The illustrations would remain same as original though some of the expressions have been tweaked during translation to sound Indian along with some name change.
Puneet Gupta, the translator, who has coined the Hindi names, states, “Tintin was first written in French by Herge. When it was translated into English, many French names got renamed and that is how Snowy, Thomspon and Thompson and some others came about. They have a copyright now which is not with Casterman, the original publisher of Tintin comics. That is why we had to rename them to publish in Hindi.” In doing so, Gupta, however, has kept the peculiarities of the characters in mind and has tried “to match them with some popular Indian comical characters and well-known public figures.” Like Thompson and Thompson turning Santu and Bantu, Professor Cuthbert Calculus renamed Aryabhatta Suryamukhi and Bianca Castafioree as Malika. Explains the Delhi-based Gupta, also an ad filmmaker-illustrator, “The original French name of Prof. Calculus was Typhon Tournesol. Tournesol in French means sunflower which I literally translated to Suryamukhi. I added the name Aryabhatta to keep alive the memory of the great Indian scientist. So is Malika, named after the legendary classical singer Malika Pukhraj.” Santu and Bantu are obviously derived from the famous fumbling duo Santa and Banta.
Then there have been some change of expressions too. So “billions and billions of blue blistering barnacles” becomes “karoro karor kale kachmachate kachue”, the catchphrase “great snakes” is “baal ki khaal” and Bianca's song “Ah! My beauty past compare” is replaced by the famous Malika Pukhraj number “Abh toh mein jawan hoon”.
Ajay Mago of Om Books, the publisher of Tintin comics in Hindi, says they have gone ahead with the project because the market is ready. “There is now a very keen interest in Bhasha literature in India and within the country people from one linguistic community now evince interest to read literature of other linguistic communities.” To get the rights from Casterman took Mago two years of negotiations. “This involved sample translations.”
Of the 24 Tintin books, Om Books has come out with eight of them so far in Hindi and four others are soon to get published. The translated ones include “Tintin in Congo”, “Tintin in America”, “Cigars of the Pharaoh”, “The Broken Ear”, “The Black Island”, “The Blue Lotus”, “The Crab with the Golden Claws” and “King Ottokar's Sceptre”. Mago says, “The translation of the rest is underway and we hope to have the entire set in Hindi published by the middle of 2011.”
The books have been printed in Singapore to meet international standards. Mago states, “No other comic book in Hindi will match the quality.” Each book comes for Rs.195.
