India is a land of stories! Our generations have grown up hearing and telling them too. Amar Chitra Katha’s founder Anant Pai, fondly known as Uncle Pai launched comics in an era when comics were not respected by the parents and other educational institutes.
Recently Food 4 Thought Foundation recognised Pai with lifetime achievement award for promoting reading. Amar Chitra Katha business head Shilpi Mathur accepted the award on his behalf. Feeling proud of it, Mathur said, “It was a feeling of pride to have collected the award on his behalf. I am a kid of the 90s and have grown up reading Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha comics. Uncle Pai was a hero in the eyes of many, his stories gave new lines of thinking to kids.”
Pai was a revolutionary in his own way. Recognised as the father of Indian comics, he solely took the responsibility of preserving India’s history which is not even captured in any history textbook. “As an Indian I cannot thank Uncle Pai enough to have created a treasure trove of such beautiful stories which we have cherished for generations,” Mathur added.
Change is constant, we at Amar Chitra Katha strongly believes that change is constant, and with the change in reading habits, the publishing house has changed themselves. “Our editors who are trained under Uncle Pai are writing, keeping in mind today’s smart kids.” ACK has adapted to the changing world and technology and have made their content available on Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle Studios’ official applications and also on portals like Kindle magzter.
“We connect to our readers on one on one basis, by conducting workshops at school which helps us to improvise our work,” Mathur mentioned.
Having tasted great success with recent titles such as Women Pathbreakers, Shakti, Saptarishi, APJ Kalam, Legends and Lore, the team is bringing fresh new Amar Chitra Katha’s year on year. In the coming year the comic house plans to launch more than 10 titles touching more intense subjects with beautiful storytelling and art.