This article talks about Mr. Pran Kumar Sharma, the iconic cartoonist who gave Indian middle class the true Indian super-heroes. Everyone has grown up reading his comics. His death marks the end of an era!
Cartoonist Pran, who created the iconic ‘Chacha Chaudhary’ and ‘Sabu’ passed away today!
This is indeed a really really sad day for all those comic lovers out there. Mr. Pran Kumar Sharma, known to the world only as Pran, was single-handedly responsible for giving wholesome entertainment to Indian kids for nearly half a century. While the West gave us larger than life heroes like Spiderman, Superman etc, Pran saab created true Indian superheroes that didn’t have any superpowers except for a genius brain! How cool is that!
Pran saab’s most famous creation has been Chacha Chaudhary, ‘jiska dimaag computer se bhi tez chalta hai’ and his companion, Sabu, man from Jupiter, ‘jise gussa aata hai toh kahin jwalamukhi phat’ta hai’! These simple and cute characteristics can bring a smile on not only a child’s but even a grown-up’s face. He also had other characters up his sleeve which he dished out one after the other to mind-boggling success in the comic world. Characters like Billu, Pinki, Raman, Shrimatiji still tickle a funny bone and have been household names for so many decades.
He has been the best cartoonist India has ever produced and due to the immense popularity of his comics, his characters made their way in showbiz as well. TV serials and Animation films have been made on Chacha Chaudhary series of comics and gained lot of popularity.
Each and every of his character, whether it was Billu or Pinki or Chacha Chaudhary, has been drawn from regular life. Nothing fancy, nothing great about their looks or style, except that each one of them has displayed superior mental faculties in dealing with day to day problems. That is the precise reason they got so famous. After all, simplicity rules! Without being preachy, he used simplicity to make a lasting impression on children’s mind teaching them the power of brain!
Mr. Pran was born in Kasur near Lahore, Pakistan and then moved to India after partition. After completing his Masters in Political Science from Gwalior, he took admission in Mumbai’s Sir JJ School of Arts for a course in Fine Arts, but left it midway. Soon after, he started his career in Delhi in 1960 as a cartoonist and there was no looking back. He travelled the whole world to share his art with fellow and budding cartoonists and became an inspiration to many of them.
His passing away has left a huge void and no one will ever be able to fill it. We just hope that his legacy continues and keep inspiring other cartoonists for generations to come.
Comic reading may never be the same again!
It’s time to bring out those comics and soak in some sweet nostalgia!
