India’s moral police needs a superwoman like Ms Shabash
- Dhaka’s Mighty Punch Studio launched Ms Shabash comic book on the International Women’s Day in 2015 and became an instant hit.
- The concept of the caped crusader is not new to us.
- But ‘the geek and the alter-ego’ factor and that too in a woman is something really catchy.
FollowA woman caped crusader whose superpowers gets charged after having mangoes and who fights the “moral policing aunties” of society and fairness creams CEOs. How does that sound?
Believe it or not, she does exist - but only in a comic book, of course! Ms Shabash is from Bangladesh. Dhaka’s Mighty Punch Studio launched this comic book on International Women’s Day in 2015 and it became an instant hit. The comic was conceptualised by Samir Asran Rahman and have been sketched by Fahim Anzoom Rahman, Mosharraf Hussain and Shamim Ahmed.
The concept of the caped crusader is not new to us. But a female geek with an alter ego is something really catchy. Ms Shabash is a geek during the day in office and fights moral-policing aunties and fairness creams in the night.
Women have been facing a lot of issues from society as well as their parents for a long time now. Wishing to change some minds and make a point, Samir resorted to comic books to voice his opinions through the character of Ms Shabash.
"I am sure the problems that girls face in Bangladesh are similar to those faced by their counterparts in India. From eve-teasing to not finding familial support for their career ambitions, the struggle is constant for women. So, we chose relatable villains like the CEO of a fairness cream company pushing the sales of her product by preying on the insecurities of a dusky-skinned population," Samir was quoted as saying by YourStory.
It is fair to say that we need more of Ms Shabash’s in India as well. Because it is difficult not to agree with Samir. Indeed, the interfering aunties, the fairness cream ads and the entire moral-policing societal structure needs to be answered in India as well. There is no second way about it. So is a fictional hero the way to go? Why not?
