With his sola topi pulled over his eyes, and his moustache curling up or down depending on his level of fright, Shikari Shambu, the famous comic character, can be seen stalking the forest, a bead of perspiration running down his cheek. There’s a tiger out there, somewhere, and he’s been tasked with catching it.

However, unlike the Shikaris of olde, Shambu is not a fearless forager in the jungle. He’s terrified of animals. When the time comes and the beast lies within his sights, he is almost certain to flee in the other direction. The hunter soon becomes the hunted, and the tiger will be hot on his tail. Almost always, Shambu gets lucky. In this case, the tiger stumbles upon another. Both leap to pounce onto the Shikari – who trips. They knock their heads against each other, and Shambu gets the credit for catching both.

Shambu, the legendary hunter

Shikari Shambu is India’s most successful fictional hunter. The catch is that he’s never fired a shot in anger. In the early 1980s, at a comic magazine’s editorial meet, it was decided that a hunter would be made – who wouldn’t shoot a single animal. Its co-founders, writer Luis Fernandez and artist V.B. Malbe, would go on to create India’s most memorable Shikari.

His role was more akin to a forest ranger – called on by conservationists and locals to help with any and all of their animal troubles. For 30 years, he’s done just that, and his exploits have taken him across India and the world.



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