Madhu Muskan

Madhu Muskan (Sweet Smiles) 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.

Overview
Gowarsons began publishing Madhu Muskan in New Delhi in 1972. The magazine was first published fortnightly, and then weekly.

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

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

Characters
Madhu Muskan characters are primarily humorous. Characters during the 1970s and 1980s include:
 * Daddy Ji, the main character, who appeared for almost 25 years 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.
 * Babloo, a young detective appearing in every issue and whose uncle is the superintendent of police.
 * Popat-Chaupat, a hapless comic duo beset with money problems.
 * Sustram-Chustram, another comic duo with many problems. Chustram is overly energetic, and Sustram is extremely lazy.
 * Bhootnath Aur Jaadui Tulika, a popular ghost with a magical paintbrush called Tulika.
 * Minni, a clever, mischievous and helpful little girl.
 * 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. '''

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, The Famous Five, Lucky Luke and Khalifa Haroon-Al-Paasha and Iznogoud.