Super Commando Dhruv

Those were the times in late 80s and early 90s. On Television front we only had a Doordarshan with very few programs for childeren to speak of. Just a Spiderman here and a Indradhanush there. We did have libraries stuffed with Famous 5 and Hardy Boys but somehow I was not able to relate to them. The sophisticated once among us read Archies but I never understood those English comic strips. As a matter of fact I don't understand even now those comic strips in English language newspapers.

So the only source of entertainement left for us were the Hindi Comics. There were all those hilarious characters like Chacha Choudhary, Billu, Pinki, Raman, Anderam-Danderam (Copy of Laurel Hardy) etc. Then there were superheroes like Nagaraj, Mahabali Shaka, Bhokal, Doga and Super Commando Dhruv (SCD from now on). While all other superheroes had some or the other supernatural powers it was SCD only who relied solely on his bravery, willpower and a great presence of mind. Probably the only miraculous power he had was that he could talk to animals and birds and this I think was a mistake in an otherwise flawless characterization.

It all started with his first book "Pratishodh ki Jwaala". This was based on a circus which was burnt by a rival circus. Dhruv's parents were acrobats in the circus and were burnt alive in the fire. From the circus itself, Dhruv learnt a variety of skills like riding motorcycle (in "Maut ka kuan" or sphere of death), walking on ropes, talking to birds and animals etc. To avenge death of his parents he goes to the rival circus and kills its owner and the main villain Jubisco (As a matter of fact, Jubisco was not killed here and comes back in a later book Bahri Maut). Later he is adopted by a honest cop IG Rajan.

As the series slowly build up, SCD has his own set of allies: his cadet force with Peter, Karim and Renu; his sister Sweta (Chandika), Vanaputra who can control plants, Dhanajay having superior scientific and technical powers etc. These characters come and go in different books.

But the most superior aspect of SCD's books were the bad men or the villains. Just watch Chumba (using magnetic powers), Dhvaniraj (using ultraviolet sounds), Dr. Virus (the name is sufficient), Bauna Vaman (using toys to meet his goal and having the famous line "Bauna Vaman apni ek na ek trick hamesha bachake rakhta hai"), Grandmaster Robo (the most dreaded terrorist on earth having a laser eye), Chandkaal (having mastery over Black Magic),
Mahamanav (the future man). SCD fights all these baddies without any weapon so to speak of. In most of the cases he just uses the things available nearby. Now you have to read his comics to understand this aspect, it wont do any justice if I quote 1/2 instances of his feat. If you do wish to start reading SCD, then I would recommend my favourite piece "Chumba ka Chakravyuh" in which the villain Chumba build killer machines based on magnets and how SCD fights them using simple rules of Physics, like heating effect of magnets etc. Grab your copy now.

I don't know what happened to SCD. The later books were kind of repetitive and hence I guess the character died its natural death. Moreover those channels of entertainment has lost their value in the present world. But if you do wish to relive your past times, you can find most of the old SCD books on here. Go ensoi....

PS: As a matter of fact I believe that the SCD stories were original. If you know that any of his books were inspired (read copied) from other sources please let me know.