NEW DELHI // As a boy, when I was learning to draw, I often tried to capture the look of the comic book character Chacha Chaudhary: the big red turban, the round face behind the white brush moustache, the natty vest and shoes.
I got it right often, even at that early age. Part of Chacha Chaudhary’s appeal – the character as well as the comic book series named after him – was the simplicity of line, plot and dialogue. It was the hallmark style of Pran Kumar Sharma, known simply as Pran during his decades as India’s most beloved comic book artist.
Pran died of colon cancer on Wednesday at 75, in a hospital in Gurgaon, Haryana.
His career spanned 50 years, and his most famous work, the Chacha Chaudhary comics – in which he produced more than 500 titles, published in 10 languages, including English – prompted the World Encyclopedia of Comics to call him "the Walt Disney of India".
On Twitter, the prime minister Narendra Modi called Pran “a versatile cartoonist who brought smiles on the faces of people through his rich work”.
Chaudhary, an old but sprightly man, fought crime with the help of a hyperactive dog named Rocket and a giant from Jupiter named Sabu. Sabu, clad only in briefs, boots and earrings, was all brawn, but it was always Chaudhary’s smarts that won the day.
His mind, Pran reminded us in every story, worked faster than a computer.
"When I was growing up, I'd read a bunch of comics from outside India – Archie, for instance, or Tintin," said Mangala Parthasarathy, an advertising professional. "But there was always a certain happiness in seeing a Chacha Chaudhary title – a home-grown comic book that was so rooted in India."
Pran was turning out Chacha Chaudhary comics even in his final weeks.
“He was a workaholic,” Jyoti Pran, his daughter-in-law, told the Times of India newspaper. “He was admitted to the hospital on July 17. The day before, he was working on a comic. Even after getting admitted, he worked on that comic for three days.”
Born in a small town in what is now Pakistan, Pran and his family moved to India after the partition of the subcontinent. He earned a degree in political science but then switched streams, starting a fine arts degree from the prestigious JJ School of Arts in Mumbai but ended his studies before getting a degree.
He began drawing cartoons in 1960 magazines, but it wasn't until in 1969 that Pran first drew a Chacha Chaudhary panel for the Hindi humour magazine Lotpot.
The strip began appearing regularly in 1971. He created other characters as well, but Chaudhary proved to be the most memorable.
In 1981, Gulshan Rai, the publisher of Diamond Comics, signed Pran to turn his cartoon strips into full-fledged comic books. The association with Diamond Comics lasted until Pran's death, although Pran kept the copyright over his characters. Chacha Chaudhary even made a brief foray into television in 2002, but it lasted for only one season.
Unlike the Tintin or Asterix comic series, Pran's stories were pure fantasy. The Chacha Chaudhary series main audience was young boys and girls, who could suspend their disbelief to enjoy a story featuring Sabu sitting atop a flying airplane, or Chaudhary being abducted to Mars or mystical potions that imparted great strength.
Amid all the fantasy, though, was Pran’s firm belief that old-fashion Indian common sense was all that was needed to foil the most dastardly criminals.
A light bulb would go on over Chaudhary’s head, and his idea would always work perfectly. This was the sort of easy, aimless reading that was ideally suited to long summer holidays.
It's also the sort of reading I cannot imagine that children today do at all. There's too much razzmatazz on television and the internet for my nephews, for example, to seek out the less sophisticated charms of Chacha Chaudhary.
But India has changed too, its culture more easily absorbing, and influencing, that of the West, so that home-grown comics now largely consist of Indian riffs on American superheroes.
Pavitr Prabhakar, a licensed, localised version of Spider-Man, is one such example.
Pran was a cartoonist for his time, a time when India was more insular and less confident. And he produced his comics with a clear-eyed objective.
“If I can make one person happy,” he wrote at the end of every comic book, “I will consider my mission complete.”
ssubramanian@thenational.ae
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
HAEMOGLOBIN DISORDERS EXPLAINED
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Racecard
6pm: Mina Hamriya – Handicap (TB) $75,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
6.35pm: Al Wasl Stakes – Conditions (TB) $60,000 (Turf) 1,200m
7.10pm: UAE Oaks – Group 3 (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,900m
7.45pm: Blue Point Sprint – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,000m
8.20pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy – Group 3 (TB) $200,000 (T) 2,810m
8.55pm: Mina Rashid – Handicap (TB) $80,000 (T) 1,600m
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Feeding the thousands for iftar
Six industrial scale vats of 500litres each are used to cook the kanji or broth
Each vat contains kanji or porridge to feed 1,000 people
The rice porridge is poured into a 500ml plastic box
350 plastic tubs are placed in one container trolley
Each aluminium container trolley weighing 300kg is unloaded by a small crane fitted on a truck
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
The biog
Profession: Senior sports presenter and producer
Marital status: Single
Favourite book: Al Nabi by Jibran Khalil Jibran
Favourite food: Italian and Lebanese food
Favourite football player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Languages: Arabic, French, English, Portuguese and some Spanish
Website: www.liliane-tannoury.com
