Thought behind the thought:
In a day and age where television channels could
be counted, on the fingers of one hand, comics books were the single most form of
entertainment to young minds in the 70's and 80's. Millions of children who grew up back then in India have fond memories attached to these comics. Mandrake the
magician, Phantom the ghost who walks, Flash Gordon and Bahadur (Indrajal Comics) transported
every child into a fantasy world full of drama, action, wonder and discovery. Simple,
entertaining, affordable and knowledge based material was what Amar Chitra
Katha and Tinkle provided the average Indian child. Comics like Amar Chitra
Katha made mythology seem so exciting and enjoyable. History books could never
compete with the charm that Amar Chitra Katha offered. Tinkle bought humour,
trivia, general knowledge and quizzes to every child that eagerly waited for it
to be delivered monthly. I happened to find a very different looking bound
volume of Tinkle recently and bought it for my kids. Apparently Supandi and
Shikari Shambhu still hold the same magic, as I distinctly heard my daughter
laugh out loud as she read it.
Amar Chitra Katha First Issue no:11
Krishna Illustrated by Ram Waeerkar
Amar Chitra Katha's unique colour illustrations
Cover of first Issue of Tinkle December 1980
Anant Pai
17th September 1929 – 24th February 2011
About the Art:
Comic books and
Anant Pai, or fondly known as Uncle Pai, are synonyms in India. In February
1967 in a quiz contest aired on Doordarshan (official Indian Channel) children
were able to answer difficult questions in Greek and Roman Mythology but failed
to answer basic questions like "In the Ramayana, who was Rama's
mother?
Deeply shocked
and pained by this Anant Pai, who then was a junior executive in The Times of
India books division, left his job and undertook the work of Amar Chitra Katha. He assumed
the position of writer, editor and publisher. The series went on to become a
publishing milestone for the Indian comic book scene, selling over
86 million copies of about 440 titles.
Writers like Kamala
Chandrakant, Margie Sastry, Subba Rao, Debrani Mitra and C.R
Sharma joined the creative team of Amar Chitra Katha. The illustrators attached
to ACK were Ram Waeerkar, who illustrated the very first issue of Amar
Chitra Katha, Krishna. Some of the other eminent names are Dilip
Kadam, C. M. Vitankar,Sanjeev Waeerkar, Souren Roy, C.D Rane, Ashok
Dongre, V.B. Halbe, Jeffrey Fowler, Pratap Mullick and Yusuf
Lien aka Yusuf Bangalorewala.
The first issue of
Tinkle was launched in April 1980. As of today 622 issues have been printed. The
whole interactive format of the magazine was what held its audiences. Children
wrote directly to Uncle Pai! He responded to their letters. Drawings were made,
stories were written and they could actually be printed in the magazine! Former Prime
Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was one of the fans of Tinkle
due to its educational and entertainment format.
Credits:
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