In the all-American world of Archie with its hot dogs and sundaes, baseball games and prom nights, there is a new entrant. Sixty-five years after Riverdale and its eternal teenagers were created, American Indian Raj Patel has walked into Archie’s neighbourhood with his doctor father and bindi-sporting scientist mother.

He is Archie’s new friend and the American publishing world’s most recent acknowledgement of how important Indian readers and markets are becoming to them.

India is finally being acknowledged by the West, if only as a lucrative business opportunity. We might not have entirely managed to overthrow age-old images of snake charmers and rishis reclining on beds of nails but side by side with pictures of cows squatting on busy roads and children begging at crossings, India has managed to project itself as the land of talented artistes and bright young professionals.

Brand India - so far identified more with Deepak Chopra and his nuclear physics, Baba Ramdev and his pranayam, tandoori chicken and the accompanying butter naan and, of course, IT professionals and doctors —  has acquired a new dimension. Let’s call it creative India. This time around the emphasis is on art, cinema and books.

Creative brand

The creation of Bollywood aspirant Raj Patel comes at a time when the advent of computers and video games like WII and X box is affecting readership for the comic series across America. It is a smart move considering that over a million Archie comics are sold in India every year. According to Michael Silberkleit, Publisher, Archie Comics, an Indian character will bring more attention and hopefully will help sell more Archie comics in India.

Archie comics are also tying up with an Indian company to create  video games based on the comic series. “'India is a big market and it is a market we want to take advantage of it,” Silberkleit has confessed.

If you haven’t already ODed on post Big Brother reincarnated Shilpa Shetty and her London antics, let it be said that her personally branded jasmine based fragrance  S2  has hit the international market.

Shetty says she chose the name S2 because she thought that as a brand it could go on for other products. Yes, the lady is ambitious. Also on the cards are a clothing line, a jewellery line, a cookery book and an autobiography.
Brand Shilpa is high recognition in the UK. Remember, the desert at the lunch she had with British Prime Minister Tony Blair was named Shilpa’s Delight. Almost unimaginable in the pre-Big Brother days.

Pretty pink

Meanwhile, the bumbling French police Inspector Clouseau has a very attractive Indian detective helping him out in the next Pink Panther movie.

It is none other than the newly married Ms Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in high heels, a short skirt and a smart white jacket. Aishwarya has been creating headlines and some pretty pictures while on a shoot at Paris for Columbia Pictures and MGM’s Pink Panther 2 where she plays a detective alongside Alfred Molina.

The pair joins forces with  Jacques Clouseau, played by Steve Martin, to catch a thief who has been stealing artifacts around the world. The movie is slated for release on 13 February 2009 and is keenly awaited by fans for its international star cast.

India and Indians have become a force to reckon with in the world. You can’t keep a good Indian down seems to be the message perpetrated. After a few years of  miserable flops, Shekhar Kapur has returned with a pulsating, gorgeous looking film that has propelled him into the Hollywood A-list again.

There is a strong Oscar buzz for the $80 million historical drama Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which premiered at the 32nd Toronto International Film Festival and will open worldwide in mid October. The film also marks AR Rahman’s debut in a Hollywood film. The Golden Age is being distributed by Universal, and deals with the efforts of Spanish king Philip II to overthrow Elizabeth and replace the Protestant England by Catholicism.

Global cool

Indian sensibilities are so obviously shaped by experiences of what is happening in the country.

“Fundamentalism and tolerance are issues that face us so clearly now, especially in a post-9/11 world," Kapur has said about the Elizabeth sequel.

And if that is not enough, Amitabh Bachchan has worked alongside Tony Blair and Sienna Miller in Kapur’s short film on global  warming called Global Cool that was shown at the IIFA awards in Yorkshire. Global Cool is an organization that is dedicated to bringing the message of Global Warming to the youth of which Blair, Miller and Kapur are members.

Not to be left behind, in this race for cashing in on the flavour of the season, Virgin Comics, a comic book company  has dabbled with the Ramayan, and other India influenced stories of superheroes and heroines  in sagas of reincarnation, revenge based concepts of dharma  and adharma.

The company was founded by Sir Richard Branson, author Deepak Chopra, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan, Suresh Seetharaman and Gotham Chopra.

There is a buzz about creative India. Whether it gets louder or just dies down with the fragrance of Shetty’s S2 only time will tell.