Amar Chitra Katha turned epics, saints and freedom fighters into illustrated stories that sold by the millions. Nearly six decades on, the publisher is still active, with new owners, fresh ventures and a recent loss of irreplaceable original art.
Amar Chitra Katha, often shortened to ACK, was founded in 1967 by Anant Pai, an educationalist who became known across India simply as Uncle Pai. The idea reportedly came from a Doordarshan quiz contest in February 1967, where participants could answer questions on Greek mythology but could not say who Rama's mother was in the Ramayana. Pai resolved to give Indian children stories drawn from their own heritage.
Pai was born on 17 September 1929 in Karkala, in present-day Karnataka, and lost both parents at the age of two. He trained in chemistry and chemical engineering at what is now the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai, then worked in the books division of The Times of India, which was publishing Indrajal Comics. In 1967 he left that job and launched Amar Chitra Katha with the support of G. L. Mirchandani of India Book House, after several other publishers had rejected the concept.
The first Indian comic ACK released was Krishna, carrying serial number 11 because the English line began after an earlier Kannada series. Outlook magazine has reported a contrasting origin, crediting a Bangalore book salesman, G. K. Ananthram, with proposing the first Amar Chitra Katha comics, produced in Kannada in 1965. In either account, Pai built the team and the brand that made the series a national institution.
The comics retold religious epics, folktales, and the biographies of historical and mythological figures. Pai initially wrote stories himself before assembling a team of writers and editors, including Subba Rao, and illustrators such as Ram Waeerkar, who drew the first issue, along with Dilip Kadam, C. M. Vitankar and Pratap Mullick. By the late 1970s the series was selling about five million copies a year, and over its run it has sold tens of millions of copies across hundreds of titles.
In 1969 Pai also founded Rang Rekha Features, described as India's first comic and cartoon syndicate, and in November 1980 he launched Tinkle, a children's anthology, under it. His warmth and direct rapport with young readers earned him the affectionate title Uncle Pai. He was also called the Walt Disney of India for his role in popularizing the medium.
The series has drawn scholarly criticism as well as praise. Researchers have noted its nationalist framing and argued that its selection of subjects was uneven, with some independence activists and communities underrepresented. Critics have also said that the comic format cannot capture the multiple coexisting versions found in India's oral storytelling traditions.
Ownership has changed repeatedly. Elephant Capital took a stake around 2010, and the Future Group acquired a controlling interest before selling shares in 2022 to the actor Rana Daggubati and Spirit Media, ending Future Group's majority control. In May 2026, Aman Srivastava became the new chief executive of Amar Chitra Katha.
The publisher's heritage suffered a major blow in October 2025, when a fire at its main warehouse in Bhiwandi burned for four days, destroying more than 600,000 units of inventory along with original hand-drawn artwork for around 200 of the earliest ACK titles. Even so, the company has said it plans to expand into apparel, board books, figurines, digital subscriptions and licensing. Anant Pai died on 24 February 2011 in Mumbai at the age of 81.
Reported from Wikipedia (Amar Chitra Katha and Anant Pai entries).
