Superheroes and Social Realism: Exploring Power, Desire, and Reality in Samit Basu's Turbulence

Samit Basu, an acclaimed Indian English novelist, has chosen science fiction and fantasy as the primary mediums for his literary expression. Science and fantasy have provided the broadest possible scope for the exercise of imagination and for communicating serious themes in a light tone. The paper attempts to study Samit Basu’s Turbulence, in which he sets his superhero novel in India and interprets it in a modern way rooted in urban fantasy. The novel is set within a socio-realistic framework, where four hundred and three passengers boarding a flight from London to Delhi discover superpowers within themselves and realize that these are directly connected to their innermost desires and aspirations. Samit Basu has carefully crafted the superpowers and executed them in a much better manner in the novel while debating the ethical exercise of Power. The varied characters uncover their superpowers towards the various problems in the present Indian society and thus bring out the authour’s intention to social realism. The paper will also discuss Basu’s postmodern perspective on the superhero genre, wherein he endeavors to articulate and interrogate the defining characteristics of superheroes and their relation to the concepts of nationalism and humanity.