‘Chintoo’ creator Prabhakar Wadekar passes away

“His untimely death has come as a shock. On Thursday I had taken him to hospital where sonography detected a kidney stone. He had made fun of his condition and said a diamond will stay in his kidney forever. Everyone expected him to undergo kidney stone treatment and come home healthy again,but his condition took a sudden turn on Friday morning. He started deteriorating. We used to meet each other every day and discuss Chintoo. He was always cheerful and used to enjoy pulling my leg. Even though he was more of a writer and I was more of a cartoonist,we never really divided our work when we worked on Chintoo together. Chintoo was a creative piece and no one can separate the work that both of us have done on it. He was a companion and a dear friend. I do not have words to express my loss today,”

His friend and Marathi playwright Shirang Godbole said,“He was my childhood friend. We worked together for Chintoo,the movie. I knew him since 86,he was an actor in one of my plays. Then again,we worked together on Katta,which was a magazine we started together. It has not sunk in that he is not there anymore. Even at his funeral,I could not believe that I am not going to meet him,chit-chat and share jokes with him again.”

Another friend,Mangesh Tendulkar,said,“I have never worked with him,but he was a close and dear friend. We met each other in ‘82 and became friends instantly. We used to have gossip sessions whenever we met. He has done a remarkable job in cartooning. Such consistency for so many years is commendable. He didn’t do his job for the sake of it. I know he enjoyed every bit of cartooning he did and that is why whatever he did turned out to be so good. Something people don’t know about him is that he was a great stage actor. I would even say he was one of the best actors I have seen on stage. I had told him not to leave the stage,but even though he has a knack for acting,his first love was cartooning. He was a good man and a great friend.”