Adah Sharma: Mumbai treated Comic Con like a festival, nobody was trying to fit into one definition of cool

CAlling it “ right-down delicious mayhem”, Adah Sharma jumped headlong into the rabidity of bombay Comic Con 2026 during a special shoot with HT City — and honestly, the chaos seemed tailor-made for her. Between superheroes posing dramatically, anime fans carrying handmade weapons, Jokers with painted smiles and cosplayers surviving on “six hours of makeup and no hydration”, Sharma looked less like a guest and more like someone who had accidentally escaped from a fictional universe herself.“People dressed as superheroes, villains, anime characters, creatures I still haven’t scientifically identified,” she says, laughing as she recalls the frenzy around her. A huge fan of The Big Bang Theory, Sharma says she had imagined Comic Con culture in a certain way, but Mumbai’s desi madness made it far more entertaining. “I saw Shaktimaan adjusting an Arab Spider-Man’s mask. There was Champak and Wonder Woman in the same frame. I was super impressed,” she says.What the actor loved most, however, was how seriously people took their fandoms — without taking themselves seriously at all. “Whether it was anime, Indian superheroes, gaming or comics, everyone was fully committed. Nobody was pretending to be cool. People were just passionately themselves,” she says, giving Mumbai’s Comic Con “11 Infinity Stones out of 10”.And while there were plenty of superheroes walking around, Sharma insists her all-time favourite remains Hanuman. “He has everything — strength, humility, devotion, courage, wisdom and zero need to show off. Ultimate powerful-but-grounded energy,” she says. Spotting Hanuman figurines at the venue unexpectedly reminded her of shooting 1920. “For those who’ve seen 1920, they’ll know the Hanuman Chalisa reference. It reminded me of that girl shooting the film with so many dreams and now getting to live them,” she says.Given her wildly unpredictable Instagram personality, it’s hardly surprising that Sharma already has an entire superhero origin story ready for herself. If there were an animated version of Adah Sharma, she says, her superpower would simply be “confusing villains”. “She’d pull out a flute, befriend stray cats, disappear into smoke and then return only to convince the villain he has magnesium deficiency,” she says with complete seriousness — or at least what passes for seriousness in the Adah Sharma universe.The actor also reveals she’s stepping into the superhero genre with her upcoming film Super Velli, where she plays what she calls “a lazy, selfish, accidental superhero”. In fact, Sharma insists she technically arrived at Comic Con in cosplay already. “I went as Super Velli. It’s just that she doesn’t care enough to make a costume,” she jokes, promising that next year she’ll show up in a proper superhero outfit.When asked which fictional universe she would willingly live in, Sharma hilariously rejected the obvious options. “Marvel has aliens destroying cities every Thursday, DC is emotionally dark all the time and anime characters fight with the intensity of people defending PhD theses. These are all stressful and exactly like Bollywood,” she says. Instead, she chooses Chhota Bheem because it offers “unlimited laddoos and simple problems”, which honestly sounds like the healthiest choice.If anyone thought Sharma’s social media personality was exaggerated for Instagram, she quickly shuts that theory down. “There is unfortunately no online version. This is factory settings,” she says. “Real life also involves me speaking to animals like we’re in a low-budget fantasy film. Nobody reacts anymore. They’ve accepted their fate.”For the actor, Comic Con ultimately felt like a giant celebration of individuality. “Life becomes much more fun when you stop auditioning for public approval all the time,” she says — a line that probably explains both her career choices and her Instagram feed equally well.And naturally, Sharma didn’t leave Comic Con without inventing an entirely new plotline in her head. Recalling a crocheted sunflower gifted by a fan, she imagines her Sunflower 2 character Rosie thriving at the event. “She’d befriend the Joker, make Batman and Superman fight over her, steal their wallets and go on a date with Spider-Man,” Sharma says mischievously. Somehow, by the end of the conversation, it actually sounds believable.Rapid Fire with Adah SharmaMarvel or DC?“If I pick a side I might be called out for propaganda. Also who knows if I get a role in either universe and this interview pops up later? I shall unleash my new superpower of diplomacy.”One superhero you’d flirt with?“Doctor Strange, because if the date gets awkward he can literally open a portal and leave.”Anime character you relate to the most?“Shinchan Nohara. Unpredictable. Chaotic. Says things that create public concern. Very relatable unfortunately.”One Bollywood actor who would survive a zombie apocalypse?“Adah Sharma, because she survived 1920’s possession and The Kerala Story. Zombies kya hi hai.”A superpower you desperately want?“To discover I have relatives with film connections but still keep my current WhatsApp family group.”One fictional world you’d happily live in forever?Shaka Laka Boom Boom. “All my problems and wishes would become drawings. What more can a girl ask for?”If you were a Mumbai superhero, what would your name be?“Gardi Girl. Superpower: detecting which auto will refuse from two kilometres away. Origin story: bitten by a radioactive vada pav.”Rapid Fire with Adah SharmaMarvel or DC?“If I pick a side I might be called out for propaganda. Also who knows if I get a role in either universe and this interview pops up later? I shall unleash my new superpower of diplomacy.”One superhero you’d flirt with?“Doctor Strange, because if the date gets awkward he can literally open a portal and leave.”Anime character you relate to the most?“Shinchan Nohara. Unpredictable, chaotic, says things that create public concern. Very relatable unfortunately.”One Bollywood actor who would survive a zombie apocalypse?“Adah Sharma, because she survived 1920’s possession and The Kerala Story. Zombies kya hi hai.”A superpower you desperately want?“To discover I have relatives with film connections but still keep my current WhatsApp family group.”One fictional world you’d happily live in forever?Shaka Laka Boom Boom. “All my problems and wishes would become drawings. What more can a girl ask for?”If you were a Mumbai superhero, what would your name be?“Gardi Girl. Superpower: detecting which auto will refuse from two kilometres away. Origin story: bitten by a radioactive vada pav.”