Pran Kumar Sharma
Pran Kumar Sharma was born on 15 August, 1938 in Kasur, a small border town in Pakistan. He was a child when his family fled to India in 1947 and settled down in Firozpur in Punjab.
To escape the harsh memories of the violence of partition, Pran sought refuge in the magic world of cartoons. While still in college, he drew political cartoons for the newspaper Dainik Milap. He got his first break when his cartoons were published in 'Shankar's Weekly' a popular magazine.
In those days, newspapers carried only Western comics like Phantom and Mandrake as no one was making Indian comics. Pran decided to change that and established the Pran Features Syndicate to create comics strips.
Pran's most popular comics strip was Chacha Choudhary. Originally produced in Lotpot magazine, the series is about an indomitable old man with a characteristic moustache and turban. The short sprightly man solves various issues with his incisive wit with the help of his associates like the giant Sabu and pet dog Rocket.
Pran was commended in the list of 'people of the year 1995' by Limca Book of Records for popularizing comics in India. Two episodes of Chacha Choudhary were acquired by the International Museum of Cartoon Art, USA and Pran was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 from the Indian Institute of Cartoonists.
Though Pran passed away on 5 August 2014, he will be remembered for generations to come as the 'father of Indian comics'.
