E27: Ram Devineni - The power of comics to drive a social message

<p>Meet Ram Devineni, the creator of India’s first female superhero - Priya’s Shakti. When Ram published the first comic book in 2014 at the Mumbai Comic Con, he didn’t expect his protagonist - a gangrape survivor, who overcomes her fear and stigma, to become such a viral hit, not just in India but globally as well.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p>The poignant image of Priya riding bravely on her tiger and friend, Saahas ended up denoting a symbolic crusader against gender violence.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p>Since then, Priya’s Shakti has been honoured by UN Women as a ‘Gender Equality Champion’, and has been covered in countless international and national publications such as The Huffington Post, Forbes, The Guardian etc. The subsequent comic series tackled equally pressing issues like acid attacks and sex trafficking.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p> <p>The latest one, Priya’s Mask, released this month highlights the issue of children coping through this pandemic. Along with an animated short film with actors Vidya Balan and Mrunal Thakur voicing the characters.</p> <p>As a documentary filmmaker, Ram had, through his company, Rattapallax produced The Russian Woodpecker, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and later directed The Karma Killings, based on the horrific Nithari murders.</p> <p>To find out more about Priya and Saahas, please visit <a href= "http://www.priyashakti.com">www.priyashakti.com</a></p> <p>You can check out the Maharani Talks on Instagram at www.instagram.com/maharanitalks</p> <p>MUSIC: Lights by Sappheiros https://soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic</p>