At 27, Bengaluru-based software analyst and author-turned entrepreneur, Rajeev Tamhankar has many feats to his credit. But what really keeps the Limca World Records holder’ 2011 and IIT Roorkee silver medalist 2012 going is his love for the unexplored. And that’s exactly what egged him to venture out with Thought Bubbles Studio, a comic books start-up.
Barely two months since its inception, his venture is making waves world over —after being hailed as one of the Top 50 start-ups of India by a popular business channel and zeroed in for their upcoming start-up TV show. This enterprising Bengalurean, shares his future plans of developing an RPG Android game and realising his dream of creating a universe of Indian superheroes.
“I loved writing right from childhood. I used to tear-off the central pages of my notebooks, staple them, write and draw comics over it — to relish as if I authored them! — That was my boyhood dream. Post my graduation from IIT Roorkee, I authored a book titled Get Corporated Before You Get Fired!. That’s when I took up writing seriously,” shares Rajeev, adding, “I was earlier penning down my character Varun in the form of a novel. But it suddenly struck me that there was a lot more to the script, which is best justified graphically. That’s when the idea of comic books start-up sprouted. I named it ‘Thought Bubbles Studio’ to give it a creative spin, while creating an own ecosystem of characters in this studio.”
Given the tech boom, we quizzed him about the feasiblity of coming out with hard copy comics at this time and age. To which, he replied, “Adults watch movies like Batman, Superman and Spider man. I am sure we would love to see something completely Indian in content. I believe that comic books will help them develop a much needed reading habit.
The responses so far has been amazing. We launched our first book Ved on an e commerce giant on July 2 and within 15 days of launch we were the #1 bestseller in Comics and Graphic Novels Category. Post Ved, we became the official comics partners for A Flying Jatt.”
With a slew of exciting events in the pipeline, it comes as little surprise that the rising comic-preneur is on a roll. “The journey has been challenging and nothing short of a fantasy! I now want to move to digital medium by building an app, so people can read comics from their mobiles or televisions and access exclusive content. In the next five years, I would like to launch content in all genres and create an own universe of characters,” signs off Rajeev with a glimmer in his eyes.
