Drawings in Ambulimama K C Shivasankaran

 

K C Shivasankaran   19 07 1924 -  29 09 2020

Karatholuvu Chandrasekaran  Sivasankaran

Ambulimama

(Source: The Hindu, The News Minute, Deccan Herald and Wiki)

Who can forget the characters depicted for Vikram and Vedal of Chandamama?

Legendary artist KC Sivasankar who has contributed to the field of art for over 60 years, illustrating for popular children’s magazine Chandamama aka Ambulimama, passed away at his residence in Chennai on September 29. The artist, best known for illustrating the Vikram Vetala series was 97.

Sivasankar was born in 1924 at a village in Erode. His ancestors hail from the village of Karatholuvu near Dharapuram, Tamil Nadu.   His father was a teacher in the local school and his mother was a homemaker.   He developed an early passion for art.    In 1934, he moved to Chennai along with his mother and siblings where he would be discovered for his talents by his drawing teacher at school.  

About his admission to a 5-year art course at the reputed School of Arts, Sivasankar once said to an interviewer, he astounded Principal DP Roy Chowdhury with a brush technique that came naturally to him. When the Principal asked him where he had learnt it, Sivasankar says he kept quiet - “It is best to keep quiet at such moments. He straightaway admitted me to the second year.”

Immediately after passing out, in 1946, he joined the Tamil magazine Kalaimagal on a monthly salary of Rs.85. By 1952, he was earning Rs.150, but was also moonlighting for other magazines, making another Rs.150. That year, Nagi Reddi hired him for Chandamama, on a salary of Rs.350: on paper it was shown as Rs.300 only because Chithra, the chief artist, was drawing Rs. 350.

He created the legendary sword wielding King Vikram carrying the Vetala corpse slung across his shoulder around the sixties.    Sivasankar said Nagi Reddy used to remark that “Chithra (another artist) and Sankar are the two bullocks of Chandamama”.

Chandamama, a periodical magazine for children originally in Telugu, was founded by filmmakers B Nagi Reddi and Chakrapani in 1947. The magazine reached far and wide, being published in 13 Indian languages. 

In 1980, the multilingual magazines combined circulation crossed 9 Lakhs.

In 2007, 60 years after it was first published, the magazine was acquired by Geodesic, a Mumbai-based software services provider company, with an intent to digitise its content.

In 2013, Chandamama stopped publishing when the parent company ran into financial troubles.

In 2017, a volunteer driven effort began to revive and preserve the magazine for future generations.

A great artist, who lived among us and portrayed those wonderful pictures of Vikram and Vedal in Ambulimama - Prayers for his soul to attain Sadgati.