Old story tellers to the nation remain on top of their game
 |
|
|
How Amar Chitra Katha Evolved For Digital Age
It is indisputable that Amar
Chitra Katha has been a part of every Indian child’s growing up process
— and consequently, in shaping the way we look at our past. The
brand of comic books — even today, India’s only answer to the Marvels
and DCs of America — has kept itself relevant in the digital age drawing
staggering crowds at events like the Comic Con.
At the recent Bengaluru Comic Con, the ACK stall was the biggest and most crowded.
How did a brand that has changed hands several times not only retain its original ethos, but built upon it to create a publishing house that is transitioning into the digital space? ACK was born in 1967, when founder Anant Pai, who was then working as a junior executive in The Times of India’s books division, walked into the offices of India Book House in Bombay, owned by G L Mirchandani.
The story of how Pai came to start one of India’s biggest publishing successes is told, appropriately, in the form of an ACK biography published in 2012. It talks about Pai stumbling upon a televised quiz contest, in which the contestants were able to answer questions on Greek mythology but failed to correctly name Lord Ram's mother. The first title was Krishna, published in February 1970.
Although the stories are told simply, Pai was quite focused on research and getting facts right, as far as the term `facts' can be applied to myths and folk-tales that have been told over hundreds of years. ACK and its sister publication Tinkle had a golden run up to the late 1980s, with at least 10 new titles a year.
Then, a lull set in, and there were very few new comics after 1991 -only a few `specials' such as biographies of personalities like J R D Tata and Kalpana Chawla. The slowing down was partly due to the group's increasing focus on Tinkle, the fortnightly comic anthology , and partly due to a creative lull stemming from a seeming lack of materi al (historical, mythological and folks stories) that could be converted into comics. Some say there was dissent in India Book House as well, and Mr Pai's editorial autocracy was being questioned. Between 1991 and 2011, just about 10 comics were published.
The group clearly needed new direc tion, and it came in the form of an ac quisition. In 2007, entrepreneurs Samir Patil and Shripal Mo rakhia acquired and incorporated Amar Chitra Katha from the Mirchandanis, besides bringing to gether the publica tion and the distri bution business under a single corpo rate entity called ACK Media in 2010.
The story telling picked up pace again, with many new titles such as Surjya Sen, Tales of Indra, and Tenzing Norgay being published.
Eventually , the two entre preneurs sold a majority stake (65.84%) of the company to Kishore Biyani's Future Ventures in tranches over two years (26% for a reported Rs 37 crore in 2011, followed by an acquisition of another 30%, and finally buying around 9% more in April 2012, as per medianama.com in September 2013).The rest (26%) is owned by private equity business Elephant Capital, and the group is headed by CEO Vijay Sampat.
The digitization of the content has proved to be a success.The ACK app was released on iOS and Android platforms in May 2014, and within a week, it was the top book app for the platform in India, and the No. 4 app overall. The brand also moved quickly into online retail environment. Yet, it's not just the business that has to evolve; the content must keep pace with changing realities as well. Critics and more politically aware readers have found fault with many aspects of the comics' content, for instance the fact that they are written extremely simplistically .
They have also come down on aspects like portrayal of women in the patriarchal passive sati-savitri mode, and on the depiction of positive characters as light-skinned individuals and the negative ones as dark. Responding to this criticism is a challenge for Reena Puri, executive editor, Amar Chitra Katha . “But the asuras are becoming fairer!“ she says with a laugh, adding that the creative team is not tone-deaf and has made efforts to reflect 21st century sensibilities in the writing and artwork.
At the recent Bengaluru Comic Con, the ACK stall was the biggest and most crowded.
How did a brand that has changed hands several times not only retain its original ethos, but built upon it to create a publishing house that is transitioning into the digital space? ACK was born in 1967, when founder Anant Pai, who was then working as a junior executive in The Times of India’s books division, walked into the offices of India Book House in Bombay, owned by G L Mirchandani.
The story of how Pai came to start one of India’s biggest publishing successes is told, appropriately, in the form of an ACK biography published in 2012. It talks about Pai stumbling upon a televised quiz contest, in which the contestants were able to answer questions on Greek mythology but failed to correctly name Lord Ram's mother. The first title was Krishna, published in February 1970.
Although the stories are told simply, Pai was quite focused on research and getting facts right, as far as the term `facts' can be applied to myths and folk-tales that have been told over hundreds of years. ACK and its sister publication Tinkle had a golden run up to the late 1980s, with at least 10 new titles a year.
Then, a lull set in, and there were very few new comics after 1991 -only a few `specials' such as biographies of personalities like J R D Tata and Kalpana Chawla. The slowing down was partly due to the group's increasing focus on Tinkle, the fortnightly comic anthology , and partly due to a creative lull stemming from a seeming lack of materi al (historical, mythological and folks stories) that could be converted into comics. Some say there was dissent in India Book House as well, and Mr Pai's editorial autocracy was being questioned. Between 1991 and 2011, just about 10 comics were published.
The group clearly needed new direc tion, and it came in the form of an ac quisition. In 2007, entrepreneurs Samir Patil and Shripal Mo rakhia acquired and incorporated Amar Chitra Katha from the Mirchandanis, besides bringing to gether the publica tion and the distri bution business under a single corpo rate entity called ACK Media in 2010.
The story telling picked up pace again, with many new titles such as Surjya Sen, Tales of Indra, and Tenzing Norgay being published.
Eventually , the two entre preneurs sold a majority stake (65.84%) of the company to Kishore Biyani's Future Ventures in tranches over two years (26% for a reported Rs 37 crore in 2011, followed by an acquisition of another 30%, and finally buying around 9% more in April 2012, as per medianama.com in September 2013).The rest (26%) is owned by private equity business Elephant Capital, and the group is headed by CEO Vijay Sampat.
The digitization of the content has proved to be a success.The ACK app was released on iOS and Android platforms in May 2014, and within a week, it was the top book app for the platform in India, and the No. 4 app overall. The brand also moved quickly into online retail environment. Yet, it's not just the business that has to evolve; the content must keep pace with changing realities as well. Critics and more politically aware readers have found fault with many aspects of the comics' content, for instance the fact that they are written extremely simplistically .
They have also come down on aspects like portrayal of women in the patriarchal passive sati-savitri mode, and on the depiction of positive characters as light-skinned individuals and the negative ones as dark. Responding to this criticism is a challenge for Reena Puri, executive editor, Amar Chitra Katha . “But the asuras are becoming fairer!“ she says with a laugh, adding that the creative team is not tone-deaf and has made efforts to reflect 21st century sensibilities in the writing and artwork.
No comments:
Post a Comment