Chennai: Karatholuvu Chandrasekaran Shivashankaran, a prominent Indian illustrator passed away at his residence in Chennai on September 29 at the age of 96.
Sivasankaran was popularly known as ‘Chandamama’ Shankar due to his contributions to the Indian magazine Chandamama. The artist was known for his signature painting of Vikram and Betal series that featured in the magazine. He was the last of the original Chandamama team as others already said good bye to world.
Chandamama was born in a village near Erode, Tamil Nadu. Since childhood he was passionate for art and it developed right from his childhood. For his history exams, he would draw sketches of famous historical characters. After completing his grade 12 qualifying exam, he joined the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai. He took his first job at prominent magazine of those time Kalaimagal. Chandamama made him a household name. He worked with the magazine for nearly 60 years, until it shut down in 2012.
Tributes to K C Shankeran who passed away yesterday. The Artist and Editor “Chandamama”… the generation of 60 to 1990s grew up reading the hugely popular multilingual moral science magazine in our School… Times are moving… pic.twitter.com/WNMnTXqPeF
— Bhaskar Rao (@Nimmabhaskar22) September 30, 2020
Chandamama kept working in his 80’s also till the time magazine was published. Chandamama, a periodical magazine for children originally in Telugu, was founded by filmmakers B Nagi Reddi and Chakrapani in 1947 and was being published in 13 Indian languages. Later it was stopped publishing in 2013 as the parent company ran int nonfinancial troubles.
#Chandamama was Marvel for 90's Kids in Telugu States
Thanks for making childhood amazing and colourful. Your drawings were our best animated movies.
RIP #KCSivaSankaran garu pic.twitter.com/ds1rA89rPQ
— Dr. Sandeep Panchakarla (@DrSandeepJSP) September 29, 2020
Some of his other notable paintings included his depiction of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. On his death, condolences poured in from across the country for the legendary painter.