It's Spiderman versus Hindu demon!

Spiderman will put on a sarong and fight the bad guys through the autorickshaw-clogged streets of Mumbai in an Indian version of the American comic classic, reports said.

Peter Parker, the American who becomes a superhero thanks to a spider bite, will be replaced by Pavitr Prabhakar who gets his crime-fighting powers from a Hindu holy man.

Instead of fighting the US Spiderman's nemesis the Green Goblin, Pavitr will wage battle against Rakshasa, a demon in Hindu lore, said Sharad Devarajan, chief of Gotham Entertainment Group, the Indian licensee of US Marvel Comics.

The first of four issues of the Indian superhero will come out in August and aims to reach 5 million readers, said Prithvijit Ramachandra, another official from Gotham Entertainment Group.

He said that if the comic is successful, the company will consider turning it into a movie. Hollywood scored a massive success in 2002 with its film Spiderman, featuring Tobey Maguire slinging across the skyscrapers of New York.

The Indian Spiderman, whose girlfriend will be not Mary but Maya, will swing across Mumbai landmarks such as the Gateway of India monument and the Taj Mahal luxury hotel.

"Unlike traditional translations of American comics, Spiderman India will become the first ever 'transcreation', where we reinvent the origin of a Western property like Spiderman so that he is an Indian boy in Mumbai dealing with local problems and challenges," said Devarajan, as quoted by the PTI.

-- AFP