The story of Chandamama's return fills me with a craving for my favourite magazine as a child - Parag, published by the Times of India group. A number of great publications got lost to commercial considerations in the post TV-era of the 1980s. These include the Illustrated Weekly of India, Dharmayug, Saptahik Hundustan, Sunday, ravivar, Dinman and Imprint. One wishes these magazines would see the light of day again.
RE:Bring back the old golds
by Sanjay Dheer on Oct 12, 2007 01:18 AM
Absolutely Saurabh. I remember, as a child during 70s and 80s, I used to wait impatiently for my Dad to return from office so that I could pounce on his briefcase and get hold of these forgotten magazines which he got issued from his office library. Really those were golden years. There was quality in every form of media, whether it was books, T.V. or cinema. There were beautiful serials like Hum Log and Buniyaad. There were informative programmes hosted by Kamleshwar. There was Amin Sayani on Radio. There was Tabassum with weekly programme Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan. Who can forget yester years news readers - JV Raman, Pratima Puri, Salma Sultan and Sarla Maheswari. My eyes get wet when I remember 70s and 80s.
RE:Bring back the old golds
by Pankaj Mohan on Oct 12, 2007 05:27 AM
Some very familiar names - publications, TV programs and hosts from that era! Good reading about all at one place. Btw, what happened to Blitz and current?! RK Karanjia was in his 90s and in complete retirement, as per the last available information.
I used be a crazy follower of Chandamama and Bommarillu( another fantacy story book). It is good to here that they are reviving their strategy and going online publication . Good thing about their stories were they used to have a moral sense which can grow a sensible mentality in the childern. These days childern are following moral less comics from west, which can no way useful for them to grow as better citizen.
Its really great news that Chandamama is coming back. There are a few other magazines which should be revived like "Dharmyug", which offered high quality Hindi reading, "Sarita", "Mukta" and "Kadambini". Some comic strips like Chacha Chaudhary, Tenaliram, Motu Patlu etc. should also be revived. For children, I think some T.V. serials should also be re-started like Star Trek, Here's Lucy, Charlie Chaplin, Old Fox, Shoestring, Lonely Planet (by Carl Sagan)etc.
RE:Welcome back Chandamama
by SAURABH SINHA on Oct 12, 2007 12:57 AM
The story of Chandamama's return fills me with a craving for my favourite magazine as a child - Parag, published by the Times of India group. A number of great publications got lost to commercial considerations in the post TV-era of the 1980s. These include the Illustrated Weekly of India, Dharmayug, Saptahik Hundustan, Sunday, ravivar, Dinman and Imprint. One wishes these magazines would see the light of day again.
RE:Welcome back Chandamama
by Sanjay Dheer on Oct 12, 2007 01:17 AM
Absolutely Saurabh. I remember, as a child during 70s and 80s, I used to wait impatiently for my Dad to return from office so that I could pounce on his briefcase and get hold of these forgotten magazines which he got issued from his office library. Really those were golden years. There was quality in every form of media, whether it was books, T.V. or cinema. There were beautiful serials like Hum Log and Buniyaad. There were informative programmes hosted by Kamleshwar. There was Amin Sayani on Radio. There was Tabassum with weekly programme Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan. Who can forget yester years news readers - JV Raman, Pratima Puri, Salma Sultan and Sarla Maheswari. My eyes get wet when I remember 70s and 80s.
I grew up eagerly waiting and reading Chandamama and Tinkle comics....Seems the reading habits of kids nowadays is on downward spiral.....Chandamama and Tinkle still rocks.May be an online version would keep it going!
I still remember those days when I was curiously waiting for my Dad who was bringing Chandamama book on the first of every month. I, my brother and sister were competing for that book. We use to take turns one by one to read the book and complete it in a day. Even my Mom was competing with us. It has been a favourite book for us. We had a collection of all Chandama books ranging from 1985 to 1997. When ever we find time we used to pick some old Chandama and read. I am very happy to hear that it is back again.
We have no internationally recognized comic strips or cartoon character as such.
And we also, can not blame T.V. or computers for that as 'West' has their number of comic characters like Tin Tin, Archie, Garfield, Denis etc which have survived and spread.
We have very few comic characters like Chacha Chaudhary, Billoo, Pinky etc. who are popular but yet not have a very wide approach.
What Chandamama management is doing briangs a good hope to our comics induatry.
RE:Good things last for ever!!!
by VSR on Oct 11, 2007 10:33 PM
The most important aspect of Indian publishing industry is that they did not have brand building and brand retention plans. Except news papers and some of the magazines like India Today, many magazines approach in a traditional way of selling. Their main was selling and selling and increasing the circulation. As against, a simple magician based novel like Harry Potter has gained popularity with sheer marketing and brand building excercise. Combined with movies, the novel was very much popularised. Again disputes in family owned companies created much confusion to publications like Chandamama.
What is important is to regain the popularity and create a brand image, not only in India, but also in other countries. I do remember that Chandamama was published in many languages including few foreign languages. Hope the new management run it professinally and make it successful. The difference between vittalacharya movies (Telugu fantasy movies) to Harry Potter is the technical effects and brand image.
RE:Good things last for ever!!!
by prashanth gudibande on Oct 11, 2007 09:37 PM
we never had the powerful media like Television to spread ramayana, mahabharatha to spread it over to generations (thousands of years). All it took was by word of mouth and books.
RE:Good things last for ever!!!
by Jerry Kurian on Oct 11, 2007 11:46 PM
Looks like you have forgotten Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana and later Mahabharath on TV that really helped it spread. I think Indian comics will do well once they are made into TV series, since most youngsters are now following TV rather than books...
RE:RE:Good things last for ever!!!
by prashanth gudibande on Oct 11, 2007 09:35 PM
it is because, we indians are obsessed with foriegn characters. we dont appreciate our culture, our work, our tradition, our country, our religion. instead we follow the west for each and every thing. anything which has a label made in USA is of superior quality and anything of superior quality made in India is a useless thing. Only when we come out of this mindset, we will have bigger markets for Indian made things. Remember India is the Second Largest Populated Country In The World.
RE:Good things last for ever!!!
by Aditya on Oct 11, 2007 10:22 PM
I don't agree with you. The main reason is not that we are obsessed with foreign characters, but that we do not know how to emphasise home-grown ones.
The foreign charactes you are implying are global and their popularity is also global. It is by no means an Indian only obsession, if it can be called that. Businesses such as DC Comics and Marvel know how to merchandise stuff, make movies, keep these characters updated and make them part of popular culture. These characters have succeeded because businesses have backed them, kept them alive, opened new opportunities. Once the Indian comic industry matures, Indian comic strips will be as popular, if not more. This is precisely what Chandamama is trying to do.
