Pran Kumar Sharma, creator of iconic comic book characters such as Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu, is dead. He was 75, his family said on Wednesday.
Better known as Pran, he was suffering from colon cancer and died at 9.30pm on Tuesday, his daughter-in-law Jyoti Pran said. “His condition was extremely critical in the last 15-20 days and was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Gurgaon,” she said.
His cremation will take place in Punjabi Bagh at 2.30pm. He is survived by his wife Asha, son Nikhil Pran and daughter Shaily Pran.
“Pran passed away at the Medanta hospital [in Gurgaon]. He had been suffering from cancer of the intestine for the past eight months. He is survived by a son and a daughter,” Gulshan Rai, publisher, Diamond Comics, told PTI. “Pran was making small cartoons for newspapers when I first contacted him in 1981. At that time, there were no Indian comics, it was all reproductions of foreign titles. For the last 35 years, we have been the sole publisher of his cartoons.”
Born in Kasur, near Lahore in Pakistan in 1938, Pran began his career in 1960 as a cartoonist for the Delhi-based newspaper Milap with comic strip Daabu. In 1969, Pran sketched Chacha Chaudhary for the Hindi magazine Lotpot, which made him famous.
Modi’s tribute
“[He] was a “versatile cartoonist who brought smiles on the faces of people,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday, expressing grief at his demise.
Pran is also the creator of other characters such as Shrimatiji, Pinki, Billoo, Raman and Chachi. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 from the Indian Institute of Cartoonists and he was included in the list of ‘People of the year 1995’ by Limca Book of Records for popularising comics in India.
Bollywood too mourned his death on Wednesday.
Indian actress Celina Jaitly, director Vivek Agnihotri, Madhur Bhandarkar, funnyman Vir Das among others took to Twitter to express their grief over the cartoonist’s death.
“Just read of the creator my fav comic Chacha Chaudhhary, India’s very own original super hero’s creator Shri Pran Kumars sad demise #legacyRIP,” Jaitly tweeted.
Contribution
The Go Goa Gone actor Das urged people to go through a Chacha Chaudhary comic to understand the contribution of Pran.
“If you’ve never been exposed to a Chacha Chaudhary comic and Pran’s genius, take today, do some browsing and find one. You won’t regret it,” Das wrote.
Agnihotri said the eminent cartoonist will always be a part of his life. “RIP ‘Pran’ Kumar Sharma, one of the two genius cartoonists and storytellers who I remember from my childhood. Shall remain part of my life,” he tweeted.
Bhandarkar called him a superstar and said his demise marks the end of an era. “The man who gave us the legendary Chacha Chaudhary is no more. This is clearly the end of an era. A true superstar; RIP Pran Sharma,” Bhandarkar posted on Twitter.
Highway star Randeep Hooda thanked the cartoonist for giving a remarkable childhood with his creation. “Chacha Chaudhary ka dimag computer se bhi tez chalta hai’. Thank you Pran saab for a great Bachpan RIP,” Hooda tweeted.
