''Drighangchoo'' (

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

: দ্রিঘাংচু) was an independent magazine published from

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

(earlier Calcutta),

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and it was the first print magazine in India to deal exclusively with "mature" comics and sequential graphic art. Its name draws inspiration from a fable of the same name by

Sukumar Ray Sukumar Ray (; 30 October 1887 – 10 September 1923) was a Bengali writer and poet from the Indian subcontinent. He is remembered mainly for his writings for children. He was the son of children's story writer Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury and ...

, which is about a troubled king's search for a mystery crow. The magazine began in 2009, when six comics enthusiasts from

Jadavpur University Jadavpur University is a public state university located in Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established in 1905 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into Jadavpur University in 1955. In 2022, it was ranked fourth am ...

and an alumnus decided to start a not-for-profit print magazine on comics for Indian readers. The first issue of ''Drighangchoo'' was published in 2009. The magazine was written in

and English. Unlike the focus of "mainstream"

Indian comics Chitrakatha (Hindi: चित्रकथा, Telugu: చిత్రకథ) are comics or graphic novels originating from India published in a number of Indian languages. India has a long tradition of comic readership and themes associated ...

which heavily borrows from the syndicated superhero comics of the North, the issues of ''Drighangchoo'' encouraged local artists and the use of serious story-telling through black-and-white sequential art in the traditional comics format, and the use of experimental and indigenous Indian artistic styles. The narratives in ''Drighangchoo'' mostly used

or English as interface languages, and also the wordless form. The magazine was published bi-annually from "under the (crow-infested) trees" of one of the student canteens of Jadavpur University, and had a few devoted and enthusiastic readers from the city of Kolkata, and outside. The magazine folded just after three issues in 2010.

References

External links

Drighangchoo's blog
2009 establishments in West Bengal 2010 disestablishments in India Bengali-language magazines Biannual magazines published in India Defunct magazines published in India English-language magazines published in India Independent magazines Visual arts magazines published in India Indian comics Jadavpur University Magazines about comics Magazines established in 2009 Magazines disestablished in 2010 Mass media in Kolkata Student magazines {{comics-mag-stub