Madhu Muskan (Sweet Smiles)^[1] was an Indian weekly comic magazine from the Gowarsons Group of Companies which was published from 1972 to 2004. Its circulation was as high as 100,000 during the late 1970s.^[2]

Overview

Gowarsons began publishing Madhu Muskan in New Delhi in 1972.^[1][3][4] The magazine was first published fortnightly, and then weekly.^[5]

Not strictly a comic book, 90 percent of Madhu Muskan's pages contain illustrated comic stories with characters popular at the time. Four to five pages contained magazine-type stories, and the remainder were comics.^[4]

The Gowarsons Group also held the Indian rights to Archie, Asterix^[6] and a number of other titles.^[2] Madhu Muskan ceased publication in 2004, when comics in India experienced financial problems.^[7]

Characters

Madhu Muskan's characters are primarily humorous. Characters during the 1970s and 1980s include:

• Daddy Ji, the main character, who appeared for almost 25 years^[8] and appeared on the cover of each issue. Daddy Ji's creator, Harish M. Sudan, modelled the character on his family and his brother-in-law.^[4]
• Babloo, a young detective appearing in every issue and whose uncle is the superintendent of police.^[4]
• Popat-Chaupat, a hapless comic duo beset with money problems.^[4]
• Sustram-Chustram, another comic duo with many problems. Chustram is overly energetic, and Sustram is extremely lazy.^[4]
• Bhootnath Aur Jaadui Tulika, a popular ghost with a magical paintbrush called Tulika.
• Minni, a clever, mischievous and helpful little girl.^[4]
• Dakoo Paan Singh, a fun- and danger-loving character who developed super-human strength when he chewed paan quickly whipped up by Supari Lal, his side-kick. His enemies included Madam Motallo, a fat woman who became a bouncing ball and flattened everything she bounced on; Serpa Soongh, a snake charmer; Cheenku, who could knock things down by sneezing; and Jadugar Jhundu, an evil magician. Their author was Murli Sundram.
• Filmi Reporter Kalamdas, a reporter who interviewed Bollywood stars; actual movie stars had comic names.^[9]

Comics

After seeing the popularity of their characters in Madhu Muskan, the publishers began publication of comics. They began with Mudhu Muskan Comics, with issues featuring Madhu Muskan characters; Trishul Comics also contained Madhu Muskan characters. Gowarsons Comics published foreign titles in Hindi, including Asterix,^[6] The Famous Five,^[10] Lucky Luke and Khalifa Haroon-Al-Paasha and Iznogoud.^[11]