The creator of Chacha Chaudhary died at 75

The creator of the iconic Indian comic book character Chacha Chaudhary, Pran died today at the age of 75 in New Delhi. The great Indian cartoonist, Pran Kumar Sharma, according the official website of  chacha Chaudhary, was the first Indian artist-writer to come up with comic books whose protagonists were characters rooted deep in Indian rural and middle class ethos.

Some of his most popular creations and one of them is of course Chacha Chaudhary, a short, lean man in a huge red pagdi,who fought everyone from hooligans to pretty robbers with flamboyance. He always had been accompanied by a giant man called Saboo, who was apparently known to be from Jupiter.

The celebrated character of Chacha Chaudhary was created in 1971 and it was a milestone work, which has been contributed to the society and has been known as the fusion of sci-fi, filmy action and Indian middle class oddities and has been offered as a wholesome entertainer for people across the ages.

The originator of this great comic character, Pran was born in Kasur near Lahore, in the undivided India. After completing his bachelors degree in political science from Gwalior, he went to Mumbai for studying art in the JJ School of Art, but left the course midway.

Pran started his career as a cartoonist in the year 1960 with Indian dailies. His  works in comics includes Billoo, Pinki, Raman, Shrimatiji and later created a separate series of comics on Saboo, Chacha Chaudhary's assistant.

What is common in all his character is that they are superheroes, who even exists today and resemble in their own small ways like while Billoo was an unbearably naughty boy, he was extremely sharp and could wriggle out of any soup he was in. Pinki, another of Pran's character, was again a small girl, who was extremely brave and ready to take up challenges. Chaudhary, famously, was said to have a brain 'which worked faster than a computer'.

Pran's superheroes were utterly adversative to the erection of the superhero popularized by saying a Marvel Comics in the West. Most of Pran's characters did not possess any super-powers - they were average humans who used their brains well. Chaudhary's superheroes, essentially, were ideal human beings and looked and sounded like any of us. No wonder then, they were household names and were loved by generations of comic book lovers in India. Many of Pran's works were animated, turned into cartoon films etc.

The Chacha Chaudhary website says about Pran, "He travelled widely over the globe including countries like America, England, France, Germany, Australia, Spain, China, S.Korea etc he delivered speeches to the gatherings of cartoonists on the subject wherever he went."

Pran, the website quotes, had said, "If I could put a smile on the face of people, I would consider my life successful."

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