Detective Moochwala

Detective Moochwala is an eponymous Indian magazine comic strip created by the well-known Indian cartoonist Ajit Ninan. The strip chronicles the adventures of Moochwala, a fictional detective, and his dog Pooch who solve several crimes armed with high tech equipment and a little chutzpah. The idea of creating this character came to Ninan after a conversation he had had earlier with Shakuntala Devi, who had wanted to create such a character herself. However, owing to lack of support from her family, Devi had never actively pursued the idea.

History

The strip appeared in an Indian youth magazine Target (part of the India Today Group) during the 1980s and 1990s. The strip was notable for its illustrations, which was remarkably detailed and high quality for the time.

Detective Moochwala was a staple of children and youngsters in India for a number of years. The comic strip was stopped sometime in 1991, when the magazine underwent a renaissance and transformed itself into a more text-oriented version.

Characters

The main characters are Moochwala the detective and his pet dog Pooch. Moochwala in Hindi literally means "a person with a moustache". He is depicted as a pot-bellied, stubby legged man with little hair, and a trademark inverted "V" moustache. The crime fighting duo were sometimes referred to in the strip as "Mooch and Pooch", and managed to crack even the most difficult cases. Pooch was of indeterminate breed, and possessed above average intelligence for a dog.

Another notable feature of the strip was the names of Police Inspectors who came to clean up at the end of the strip; they always had very apt Hindi-English words.