Drawing laughter: Narayan Debnath's timeless tales

Who needs superheroes with capes when you have Bantul the Great in a vest? Or hostel pranksters like Nonte and Phonte? Long before memes, reels, CGI and video games, one man made generations of Bengali kids laugh with just a pencil and paper—Narayan Debnath!

- — Rudrani Sanyal —

His characters weren't just drawings—they were neighbourhood legends. Bantul could stop tanks with his fists and still make it home in time for luchi. Nonte and Phonte's hostel was a maze of pranks, punishments, and perfectly timed escapes. Handa Bhonda fought like brothers but always made up by the last frame. Narayan Debnath didn't just create comics—he built a world where kids could see themselves: bold, messy, funny, and wonderfully imperfect.

Narayan Debnath wasn't loud or flashy, but his pen spoke volumes. Born in Shibpur, Howrah, in 1925, he grew up in a family of goldsmiths where he first began sketching jewellery designs. His passion for drawing began early and only deepened when he enrolled in the Indian Art College in Kolkata during World War II.

After freelancing for advertising agencies—designing movie slides, logos and cover art—Debnath was introduced in 1950 to Dev Sahitya Kutir, one of Bengal's most respected publishing houses. For over a decade, he illustrated children's adventure books and Bengali versions of Western classics. But comics in Bengali were still rare. While Debnath was familiar with foreign comics, he believed Bengal hadn't quite embraced the genre.

In 1962, a turning point arrived when Shuktara, a monthly children's magazine by Dev Sahitya Kutir, asked Debnath to create a comic strip of his own. The editors even suggested the name: Handa Bhonda. With his trademark quiet brilliance, Debnath brought the two naughty boys to life—one chubby, the other thin, both constantly plotting and pranking each other. Drawn in black ink with no colour, the strip was an instant hit. Its popularity proved something new: Bengali comics had arrived.

He followed it up with other 'terrible twins' like