Top 4 Bengali Comic Characters of Narayan Debnath

The earliest comic strip in Bengal was dated back in 1921, by Sukhalata Rao, Satyajit Ray's aunt. Her work, " Jemon Kormo Temon Phol" was published in a magazine. Sukumar Ray's comic like strips were very popular too. In the later years, a name that started getting associated with Bengali comic was of Narayan Debnath. 

Narayan Debnath, whose comics have provided laughter through generations, have ceeated some immemorable funny characters that had been an integral part of our childhood years. Here are the top 5 Characters that have stayed with us.

1. Nonte-Fonte: A boarding school and two very naughty inmates, Nonte and Fonte who has to carry out their mischiefs stealthily under the strict supervision of the Superintendent and another senior inmate Keltuda.

The hide and seek games, the chasing sequences, the sweet revenges almost remind us of Tom & Jerry. Keltuda is a unique character, a devil mind with pleasing attitude to get favours- a typical good for nothing fellow.

2. Bantul The Great: Bantul is a guy, bold, fierce and powerful. He is a muscular man with a heart of gold, always ready to help others. He has two associates, Bachhu and Bichhu who often plan to take him down behind his back, but always fail. 

The most remarkable feature of the character Bantul is his physique- immensely muscular with slender legs and a bald head with protruded forehead.

3. Handa- Bhonda: Handa- Bhonda are two frenemies, always trying to prove each other's supremacy. While Handa is wicked and trickster,  Bhonda is a hard-working honest boy. Their fights and continuous clashes form the main subject of this comic strip.

4. Bahadur Beralù: Bahadur is a cat, who is a dreamer and tries to do a lot of things but faces a lot of challenges. Sometimes fishing, sometimes plucking mangoes from trees- his human like activities make the strip funnier amongst younger children.

There are many remarkable characters that Narayan Debnath had gifted us in his illustrious career spanning 70+ years as a cartoonist. A major chunk of our earlier years had remained indebted to him, for providing simple happiness through his cartoons. The various expressive gibberish words, " Ikks, ullus, ukkas "- and many more that fit perfectly with every character's momentary feelings have been never seen before.