Tales of Uncle Pai

Occupying a fond place in every child’s growing years is Anant Pai or Uncle Pai, the creator of Amar Chitra Katha comics.

The man behind Amar Chitra Katha comics and Tinkle that children and adults still adore is a satisfied man, happy that he has managed to bring a smile to millions of faces. Sitting in his flat in Prabhadevi, 79-year-old Anant Pai, fondly known as Uncle Pai, reminisces about the journey he describes as a fulfilling and joyous one.  Not to mention the adulations he has received over the years.

The journey has definitely been very long admits Pai, and the Amar Chitra Katha has undergone many changes. In 2007, it was bought over by ACK media, who recently tied up with Vodafone and have made stories available on the cellphone as also ring tones, wallpapers etc. of different mythological characters. Ask Pai about these new initiatives and he says, “It’s all about the business world.
There are new formats to cater to the masses and increase popularity.” But talking about popularity of these comics and he proudly declares that they still sell. “At one point we thought that comics are gone forever, but that did not happen. We then realised that maybe formats will change but comics will always remain.”

An avid writer, Pai always wanted to study creative writing but was forced to take up science. He later became a journalist and worked in the media industry for over six years. The idea of Amar Chitra Katha came to him in 1967 when he visited Delhi. He saw a signboard announcing a contest organised by a company selling television sets. The contest question was “who was the mother of Rama?” Though the contest attracted great attention, hardly anyone knew the answer.  That was when Pai thought of doing something to preserve the knowledge of India’s culture. He came back to Mumbai and approached publishers. The first books published were Sons of Rama  and Krishna and both received exceptional response. “Krishna sold 11 lakh copies,” he says.

As the years went by, along with mythological stories, he started making comics on historical characters like Chanakya, Prithviraj Chauhan etc. Stories were later also published on contemporary heroes like Kalpana Chawla and JRD Tata. “The success story continued till 1985. It was the year television gained popularity in India. Our sales plummeted.” But by then they had introduced Tinkle which was slowly gaining popularity. “I used to receive 4,000 to 5,000 letters about Tinkle per month,” he says. The publishing stopped in 1991, till it was recently taken over by
ACK media.

His life has had its share of ups and downs, but he feels thankful for the enormous love he has received from his readers. He recalls an incident went a seven-year-old boy came up to him and said, “Are you really Uncle Pai? Can I touch you?” he fondly reminisces.

His wife Lalita Pai who was married at the age of 20 and has shared most of her life with him proudly says, “I am very happy and proud. I love reading the comics and I am still the first one to read a comic after it is published.”