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When Thanos came to Mumbai: What happened at Comic Con 2019
The comic universe came alive at an action-packed event in the city over the weekend
Ask professional cosplayer Saurabh Rawat, what he wanted to be when he was little and he laughs while saying, “I wanted to be a cartoon.” The art director from Mumbai’s suburbs has been cosplaying professionally for five years and has even won a couple of accolades for his costumes. The ninth edition of the two-day comic convention, popularly known as Comic Con, saw a bit of dance, music, culture and dollops of drama as characters from every comic book series, manga and movie got into character to compete for the cosplay competition. Saurabh’s rendition of DOTA’s Centaur Warrunner — a half-man, half-horse character — took him three months to create. It had velcro strips on his face to accommodate three braided locks of hair that acted as his beard and moustache and that was only part of his detailed ensemble.
Another rare sight to behold is watching characters from the DC and Marvel universes intermingling with popular cartoon characters. There was Aquaman, Spiderman, Thanos and more than a couple of Jokers who were packed in like sardines in Goregaon, Mumbai, over the weekend.
Sachin Menon, 29, dressed up as Jim Halpert from the popular TV show, The Office. Sachin’s interpretation of his favourite character was to dress up as Jim who dressed up as a three-holed punch for a Halloween episode in the series. The costume was three round cardboard cutouts worn on a white shirt. But unlike Sachin, there were others like Justin Sequeira, another five year amateur cosplayer, who used covers of mosquito repellent oil bottles, metro coins and other scraps to complete his elaborate costume of The Mandalorian, a gunfighter. Another, Sayed Akef, 21, wore a realistic Iron Man costume made out of cardboard and plastic, which his brother designed for him.
Each cosplayer — both amateur and professional — tried their best to look authentic to take home the grand prize money worth ₹50,000. The final victor was Shine, who cosplayed as Jetfire from the Transformers franchise and even got the moves of the character right.
A number of people flocked to what was being referred to as the ‘friend zone’, which had no relation to the colloquial term of one’s romantic refusal by their friends. It was a set up of the coffee shop Central Perk from the TV show Friends, which was complete with the orange couch and coffee mugs, that acted as a ready photo studio.
Amidst the crowd were popular faces like Mukesh Khanna, known to many as the Indian superhero Shaktimaan, as well as Sri Lankan artist Sachi Ediriweera, who is best known for his work graphic novel book, Lionborn, among others. The event was a right mix of colour, creativeness and cosplay, but Sachi sums it up perfectly by saying, “Regardless of where it takes place in the world, Comic Con is always a reminder that geeks are a bunch of amazing folk. There might be entire communities you’re not familiar with, but still they’d gladly take the time to share their geeky passions with you.”
