Thank you, Pran for the smiles!
Eminent cartoonist Pran Kumar Sharma, better known as Pran, passed away into the ages today.
Creator of the immortal characters of Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu, Pran's creations were exclusively published by Diamond Comics starting 1981.
Here are seven things about Pran's world that you should know:
1. Chacha Chaudhary has been a 'chacha' since 1971
Pran created the immortal character for Lotpot, the popular Hindi magazine in 1969 (when the magazine started) but started getting published only a couple of years later.
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2. Daabu was his first comic strip
Chacha Chaudhary may have made him famous but Daabu was his first comic strip.
It first appeared in the Delhi-based newspaper Milap.
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3. Before Pran there were these...
Translated or reprints of western comics such as Phantom and Superman largely dominated the market.
In many ways, Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu were the first Indian superstars in the Indian comics scene.
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4. They even made it to TV!
The talented Raghubir Yadav played Chacha Chaudhary!
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5. Akshay Kumar couldn't resist being part of his creations
To promote his movie, Boss, Akshay Kumar made an appearance in a special edition Chacha Chaudhary comic.
Awesome or awesome!
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6. Then there was Shrimatiji
Yet another character who was popular before the Chacha became a star was Shrimatiji.
The comic strips appeared first in the women's magazine Sarita and eventually moved on to Manorama.
Shrimatiji was your everyday wife who found unique ways to keep her household expenses in check.
In a pre-Liberalised India, she struck a chord.
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7. The everyday superhero
The parallels between Chacha Chaudhary and Asterix are undeniable.
Both are street smart, noble, have a sense of humour and a sidekick who is about five times their size and is slightly slow on the uptake.
But the similarities end there.
Pran says in an interview that the idea was to make Chacha Chaudhary's character relatable.
Unlike in the West, Pran's superhero wasn't a muscular, high-on-testosterone man flying, swinging or zipping past in a supercar.
He was an old man with a walking stick and a turban, resolving the problems of people around him.
Which is what made him so relatable... and popular!
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