Cosplay gains hold in India

>> NEW DELHI: Japanese “cosplay” culture is gaining popularity in India, where the trend is aided by the tradition of dressing up as Hindu gods during local festivals.

Since 2011, Comic Con India, a cosplay and pop-culture event, has been held in major Indian cities and drawn big crowds. The number of cosplay fans, who mainly come from the wealthy class, is estimated at about 700,000, according to sources familiar with the event.

When going to cosplay events, Kowkab Naim, 30, dons a costume like one in the popular Japanese comic series Bleach, the tale of a high school student possessed by death who fights against evil spirits with his mates.

Mr Naim, a business owner in New Delhi who became fascinated by Japanese anime around five years ago, said cosplay — an abbreviation for “costume play” — is similar to the Indian tradition of dressing up like the Hindu god Shiva during religious festivals.

Japanese cosplay has expanded to include a growing number of women in India, despite — or possibly because of — the conservative nature of Indian society.

Saumya Singh, a 27-year-old graduate student, enjoys transforming herself into the character Naruto, the hero in one of the most famous Japanese “manga” comics.

“Indian women are asked to be docile, but we can act boldly when wearing costumes,” she said.

India is a particularly convenient place to join in the fantasy fun of cosplay because of the existence throughout the country of highly skilled tailors, who can produce complicated attire at low cost.

Dai Nippon Printing Co, which has a base near New Delhi, has teamed up with Fantasista Inc, a Japanese computer graphic studio, to open a website for Japanese comic fans. It also organised a cosplay event in Bengaluru in March.

Hiroki Kurihara, president of the CG studio also hopes to “launch an e-published comic depicting Hindu gods created by Indians and drawn by Japanese cartoonists”.