Chennai based cartoonist and illustrator Shankar (97), known for artwork in Chandamama magazine passed away. His Vikram Betal illustrations were well known, Chandamama Manya painter Shankar Garu passed away at 1 pm on Tuesday. Age 97 years. He spent four years at his daughter’s house in Madananthapura near Porur in Chennai. He is survived by his wife and son Shanmukavalli (87). At the age of 97, their daughter said she was mentally debilitated by thinking about the Chandamama and the pictures she had painted in it. A psychiatrist has been treating him for the past 20 days. Having taken nothing but fresh water for 20 days. It is learned that Shankar Gari’s funeral also ended today, Tuesday evening. (These details were revealed by Vasuki Garu, the former editor of Junior Chandamama) It seems that the last of Chandamama painters also ended with Shankar’s eyelid. He painted almost 700 of his ghost stories. The Kodavatiganti family at that time said that Shankar Garu was a great artist who brought divinity to the mythological characters with his figures for the Ramayana and Mahabharata serials that came in Chandamama. Shankar, who portrayed the natural beauty of princesses as Nabhuto Nabhavishyat, also portrayed demonic characters as beautifully. For example, in the Ramayana, the characters of Kumbhakarna, Indrajith and Ravana are best examples, Shankar is a painter who has been painting for almost 60 years from the time he joined Chandamama till the end of 2012.
Courtesy: K. Rajasekhararaju (‘Chandamama’ family member)