Rahul Dravid, former cricketing legend, turns comic book superhero

ByRishibha Kumari

How far can a cricket fan go to immortalise hisidol? A Chennai-based sports startup Sportwalk has created a comic book titled- 'The Wall', which highlights the 15 best cricketing moments from Rahul Dravid's career.

Today, the former cricketer and captain of the Indian team is the head coach of the Under-19 Indian cricketteam.

In an exclusive chat with WION, the creators of the comic book revealed that they were inspired by Dravid'shumility and the way he won hearts by his performance on and off the field.

"It was a humble tribute that we wanted to pay to the great man that is Rahul Dravid. He is a cricketing idol for all of us. Like if you like sports, you have to love Rahul Dravid. He is an embodiment of the perfect gentleman and he is a great role model for every youngster," said Abhranil Roy who heads the digital media team at Sportwalk.

For them, the inspiration to make a comic book on Dravid came by meeting the Rahul Dravid fan clubs based in South India. The cricketer'sjourney excited them and they were overwhelmed by the response they received upon the conception of this idea. They chose Dravid's birth date January 11to launch the comic book.

"The response has been really good so far. We were specific on launching this comic book on his birthday that is January 11. When we posted the cover picture of this comic book earlier, people were positive about the entire idea and this was encouraging," said co-founder Divakar KS.

The writer of the comic book. Himanshu is amused at how the comic book has turned out and he isenthusiastic about what lies ahead. He also revealed that there were many cricketing moments and they did their research well to prioritise the best 15 cricketing moments.

He said, "This is the first time I've attempted this. It is an uncharted territory for me, it was a challenge but as we're talking about somebody as big as Rahul Dravid. It helped that we had certain guidelines as we had to capture 15 moments from his career. The initial challenge was to identify those moments, things that his fans could relate to. I hope the comic book takes Rahul Dravid fans to a trip down the memory lane."

The chief cartoonist revels in the way the comic book appears visually as he calls it his masterpiece. He recalls his journey as a cartoonist and he hopes for the best outcome for this project."I started practising during my college days and eventually developed my own style. Then Divakar approached me with the idea of telling sports stories using comics. Since I found this idea unique, I started doing it." said Adheedhan R, the chief cartoonist.

The company Sportwalkthat also organises sports-related events and sells merchandises onlineisalso the first sportsstartup to associate with Comic Con India. Theyarecurrently working on more comic bookprojects, sportsevents and merchandises.

The merchandise and comic books are available on their online store -www.sportwalk.co.