The Shahenshah of Bollywood was a part of a comic book series called The Adventures of Amitabh Bachchan playing his alter ego supremo, in the 1980s.
In the 1980s, the Supremo comic series starring Amitabh Bachchan was released. Because he gave the publishers, India Book House (IBH), permission to do it, Amitabh was well aware of the comic. In the series, he is an actor going about his business in the day time. But in his leisure time, he hides his face with large shades resembling wielding glasses, dresses in a skin-hugging pink costume with a wrap like those worn by fishermen along with a chakra pendent and embarks on crime fighting adventures.
Pammi Bakshi, editor of Movie magazine, created Supremo for India Book House's (IBH) Star Comics label. Amitabh Bachchan's Adventures were inspired by an occurrence that she witnessed while standing on her flat's balcony. Bakshi noticed a bunch of children playing in a nearby building. One of the kids claimed to be Superman and that he was able to fly. Another claimed to be Batman and that he could scale any structure. A third claimed to be Amitabh Bachchan and to be able to beat up ten evil guys with one hand. She also explained in an interview that the term Supremo was inspired by actor Randhir Kapoor's nickname for Amitabh Bachchan.
Bakshi enlisted the help of her friend, writer and filmmaker Gulzar, as a writing consultant for the show. Pratap Mullick, an illustrator with Amar Chitra Katha, was more difficult to persuade to draw the comics as he was uninterested in mainstream cinema and had never seen any of Bachchan's movies. However, Gulzar is credited with writing the series' first comic volumes. Sudha Chopra is described as the screenplay coordinator, Pammi Bakshi as the editor, Pratap Mullick as the art director, and three others as artists.
Supremo has no supernatural powers. He can be compared to Batman in this aspect. His main traits are strength and intelligence. Supremo’s profile includes his love for peanuts and listening to music. The comic was available in two languages- English and Hindi. He has two sidekicks, Vijay and Anthony, named after the actor's most famous characters. When he’s not fighting, Supremo is often seen filming alongside Manmohan Desai or Prakash Mehra, two directors that moulded Bachchan's career.
The Lost Idol was the first adventure in the series. Supremo finds an antique ship at the bottom of the ocean and recovers an idol stolen from a temple in 1660. The falcon Allahrakha, a figure from Desai's Coolie, also appears in the comic series. Shaheen is the bird's new name, and she frequently brings news of a new job to Supremo.
The series ran for 2 years before Bakshi got married and left India. Similar comics featuring Rajinikanth in Tamil Nadu and Mammootty in Kerala were inspired by the series. Sunil Gavaskar, the cricketing legend, had his own series of adventures as a crime fighter, but it was cancelled after three issues.
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