| Amar Chitra Katha | |
|---|---|
 The logo |
|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Amar Chitra Katha Pvt. Ltd. |
| Number of issues | 10001 |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Various |
| Artist(s) | Various |
| Creator(s) | Anant Pai |
Amar Chitra Katha (Hindi: अमर चित्र कथा, amar citra kathā [?], "Immortal Captivating (or Picture) Stories") (Amar Chitra Katha PL)is one of India's largest selling comic book series, with more than 90 million copies sold in 20 Indian languages.[1] Founded in 1967, the imprint has more than 400 titles that retell stories from the great Indian epics, mythology, history, folklore, and fables in a comic book format. It was created by Anant Pai, and published by India Book House. In 2007, the imprint and all its titles were acquired by a new venture called ACK Media. On September 17, 2008, a new website by ACK-media was launched.[2][3]
Contents |
Creation and creators
The comic series was started by Anant Pai in an attempt to teach Indian children about their cultural heritage. He was shocked that Indian students could answer questions on Greek and Roman mythology, but were ignorant of their own history, mythology and folklore. It so happened that a quiz contest aired on Doordarshan in February 1967, in which participants could easily answer questions pertaining to Greek mythology, but were unable to reply to the question "In the Ramayana, who was Rama's mother?". [4][5].
Writers like Kamala Chandrakant, Margie Sastry, Subba Rao, Debrani Mitra and C.R Sharma joined the creative team of Amar Chitra Katha, with Anant Pai taking on the role of editor and co-writer on most scripts. The notable illustrators, other than Ram Waeerkar, were Dilip Kadam, Sanjeev Waeerkar, Souren Roy, C.D Rane, Geoffrey Fowler and Pratap Mullick.
The comics
The original printings of Amar Chitra were not in full colour—because of budgetary constraints, the panels were printed using yellow, blue and green. Subsequent issues, however, changed to full colour. All Amar Chitra Katha books stuck to a monthly (later fortnightly) 30-page format, with emphasis on lucid, entertaining storylines. In addition to the 'singles' format the stories are also available as hardcover 3-in-1 and 5-in-1 bundles. There are special editions of the Epics like the Mahabharata which is available in a 3 volume 1300+ pages set.
Occasionally there were "bumper" issues with 90 pages, most collecting stories of a similar type from individual issues( Example: Monkey Stories From The Hitopadesha, Tales of Birbal and some being longer stories The Story of Rama). As the epic stories became more popular, the team began to publish stories based on Indian history, of men and women belonging to different regions and religions and also on stories based on Sanskrit as well as regional classics. The continuous popularity of the comics led to reprints being issued frequently, which ensured that the back-issues remained in print throughout the seventies and the eighties. At the height of its popularity, in the mid-eighties, it had been translated into Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Sanskrit and Urdu and selling half a million copies a month. Some titles were also translated into French, Spanish, German, Swahili, Fijian, Indonesian, and Serbo-Croat.
Towards the mid-nineties, the original comics were reprinted in sleeker and more durable editions, with thick cardstock covers and better colour separations. Today, Amar Chitra Katha has a national footprint across all major book retailers, hundreds of small bookstores, and tens of thousands of vendors. It is the best-selling children's publication in most large format stores.
In 2007, the publisher created a new online store that offers all the titles with shipping worldwide. The titles are divided in following categories
- Fables & Folktales (e.g. Panchatantra)
- Mythology (e.g. The Ramayana)
- The Epics (e.g. The Ramayana)
- Humour & wit
- Biographies (e.g. Mahatma Gandhi)
- Literary Classics
- 3 in 1 Titles
- 5 in 1 Titles
- Special Issues
Cultural significance
Amar Chitra Katha was launched at a time when Indian society was slowly moving away from the traditional joint family system, because of (among other things) socio-economic constraints and urbanization. In a joint family system, grandparents would regale the children of the household with tales from folklore and the epics, and the Amar Chitra Katha series served to fill the void left by grandparents in the smaller nuclear families in urban areas. The choice of English as the primary language led it to reach the majority of children who studied in English medium schools.
Later, when the comic added historical topics, it proved very helpful to students. For most, Indian history, a jumble of names and dates, came alive as stories. The detailed research of architecture, costumes, regional flavours and facts ensured that the comics were widely accepted into the mainstream, both parents and teachers using them as educational aids. To an extent, these books, with their homogenized and unbiased character descriptions went a long way in promoting national integration and increasing inter-provincial awareness throughout the country.
It should be mentioned that the series steered clear of controversy, taming down content and violence and adhering to strict self-censorship.
In popular culture
In the film Gulaal, a major character, Rananjay Singh express his disapproval of traditional patriarchial rajput machoism by saying that he does not want to live in Amar Chitra Katha but real world.
Modernisation
Amar Chitra Katha has evolved over times. Now it is available as a digital media in more means from online access to mobile phones. ACK-Media has recently partnered with iRemedi Corp of Atlanta, GA to deliver Amar Chitra Katha comics on the iPhone platform. Popular Amar Chitra Katha Comics were launched on the iPhone platform by iRemedi and Apple on 05/12/2009. Amar Chitra Katha comics have been adapted for the iPhone platform for readers to enjoy panel by panel reading experience on the iPhones and iPod touches on iRemedi's ETHER MEDIA viewer solution. More information can be found at iRemedi's website.[6]
Popular ACK Titles may be found directly in Apple's iTunes Appstore.[7]
Criticism
The stories are often simplistic, excessively Indophilic, and sometimes rely on authentic but singular sources for the script. This has led to the criticism that they should not be considered as "history". The illustrations in Amar Chitra Katha created a generation of Indians who could visualize historical and mythological characters only through these. These were often not very thoroughly researched and true picturisations, but were later emulated in TV series like 'Mahabharata' and 'Ramayana'. A lot of these were derivatives of artist Raja Ravi Varma's paintings and depictions. The simplistic portrayal of characters as villains and heroes (much like the ones in mainstream Hindi movies) betrayed an association with certain ethnic stereotypes. For example, all demons were portrayed with dark complexion.
Further reading
- India's Immortal Comic Books: Gods, Kings, and Other Heroes, by Karline McLain, Indiana University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-253-22052-3.
- The Classic Popular: Amar Chitra Katha (1967-2007), by Nandini Chandra, Yoda Press, 2008. ISBN 81-903634-3-3.
- "Amar Chitra Katha: Western Forms, Indian Contents", by Sanjay Sircar, Bookbird, A Journal of International Children's Literature, 2000, 38, Nr. 4, p. 35-36.
- "From Self-Knowledge to Super Heroes: The Story of Indian Comics", by Aruna Rao, 2001, in: Lent, A. John (Ed.),
Illustrating Asia, Comics, Humour Magazines, and Picture Books, Richmond, p. 37-63.
- "India Book House and Amar Chitra Katha (1970-2002)",(german), by Norbert Barth, Würzburg 2008, http://www.opus-bayern.de/uni-wuerzburg/volltexte/2008/2789/pdf/indiabookhouse.pdf
References
- ^ "Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle to entertain kids on Net". CNN-IBN. 2008-01-27. http://www.ibnlive.com/news/amar-chitra-katha-tinkle-to-entertain-kids-on-net/57468-11.html. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
- ^ "ACK Media buys Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle brands". The Hindu Business Line. 2007-11-22. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/11/22/stories/2007112250170500.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
- ^ In India, New Life for Comic Books as TV Cartoons New York Times, July 19, 2009."...sells about three million comic books a year, in English and more than 20 Indian languages, and has sold about 100 million copies since it inception in 1967"
- ^ Now, Amar Chitra Katha gets even younger Vijay Singh, TNN, The Times of India, 16 October 2009.
- ^ The World of Amar Chitra Katha Media and the Transformation of Religion in South Asia, by Lawrence A Babb, Susan S. Wadley. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1998. ISBN 8120814533. Chapt. 4, p. 76-86.
- ^ http://www.iRemedi.com/amarchitrakatha.htm
- ^ http://ax.search.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSearch.woa/wa/search?entity=software&media=all&submit=seeAllLockups&term=iremedi
External links
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