Chacha Chaudhary, drawn by Pran and published by Diamond Comics, became one of India's most recognizable comic characters. His weapon was never strength but a brain said to work faster than a computer.
Chacha Chaudhary was created by the cartoonist Pran Kumar Sharma, known simply as Pran. He first sketched the character in 1971 for the Hindi magazine Lotpot, and it quickly became popular with children and elders alike. Pran said he was inspired by the ancient strategist Chanakya and by the wise elders found in every Indian village who solve problems through experience.
Pran was born on 15 August 1938 in Kasur, in what was then British India and is now in Pakistan, and his family moved to India during Partition. He began his career in 1960 as a cartoonist for the Delhi newspaper Milap with the strip Daabu. At a time when Indian comics largely meant reprints of imported titles such as The Phantom and Superman, Pran set out to build characters rooted in everyday Indian life.
What set Chacha Chaudhary apart from typical comic heroes is that he has no muscles, gadgets or superpowers. He is a middle-class old man in a red turban who carries a wooden stick, and the running tagline about him is that his brain works faster than a computer. He fights corrupt officials, thieves, goons and con men, and usually ends each story by teaching them a moral lesson.
His most famous companion is Sabu, a giant alien from the planet Jupiter who provides the muscle. Sabu is enormously strong and famously says that whenever he gets angry, a volcano erupts somewhere far away. The household also includes Chacha's wife, often called Bini Chachi, and a faithful street dog named Rocket, making the cast feel like an ordinary Indian family with one extraordinary member.
The series is published by Diamond Comics, which was founded in 1978 by Gulshan Rai Verma and is headquartered in Delhi. Diamond is described as the largest comic book distributor and publisher in India, and beyond Chacha Chaudhary it is home to other Pran creations such as Billoo and Pinki, as well as the later hit Motu Patlu.
Chacha Chaudhary's reach is striking. The comic has appeared in around ten Indian languages, including Hindi and English, and has sold over ten million copies. Indian children once ranked him as their most recognizable comic book character, according to a press release from Pran's own studio cited by Wikipedia.
The character has also crossed into other media, including a 2002 live-action television series in which Raghubir Yadav played Chacha Chaudhary, and a 2019 animated television series produced by Toonz Animation. Pran's other characters, such as Shrimatiji, Pinki, Billoo and Raman, similarly became fixtures of Indian magazines.
Pran died of colon cancer on 5 August 2014 in Gurgaon at the age of 75. He had been called the Walt Disney of India in The World Encyclopedia of Comics, and in 2015 he was posthumously awarded the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honors.
Reported from Wikipedia (Chacha Chaudhary, Pran Kumar Sharma and Diamond Comics entries).
