5 min readPuneMar 10, 2025 08:50 AM IST
First published on: Mar 9, 2025 at 06:56 PM IST
Savio Mascarenhas, group art director of Amar Chitra Katha, has been with the popular comic book brand for over 30 years. In an interview at the Pune Comic Con, he spoke at length about what comics like Tinkle mean to readers, how the internet has changed the creative process for writing comics and his favourite comic book artists, among other things.
Edited excerpts from the conversation:
Q: What are the reactions you get from people when they meet you at events?
Savio Mascarenhas: People who have grown up reading Amar Chitra Katha come up to us and say that they want to pass on the legacy to the next generation. And that is something which we feel very proud of. Because it is a very treasured book which gives you a lot of information, which gives you a lot of knowledge, and at the same time also keeps you entertained.
Q: Most of the popular foreign comics like Marvel or Japanese Anime are action comics. Amar Chitra Katha is a completely different genre. How do you think they all come together?
Savio Mascarenhas: Actually, they both have their own space. Tinkle and Amar Chitra Katha come from the Indian ethos of storytelling. So the way we tell our stories, the way we draw our stories is not going to be there (in the foreign comics). People have multiple choices, but a person who is interested in comics will buy both. And the content that we publish is directed more towards the family. Amar Chitra Katha goes right from a reader who is as young as eight years old to as old as 80. A family would read Amar Chitra Katha together. And we tell the stories of India; our storytelling is very much rooted in the reality of what we are.”
Q: How has the internet changed the creative process for writing comics?
Savio Mascarenhas: The internet opens up a lot of options. It exposes you to a lot of different styles of writing or different styles of art. In that way, it is a big boon for comic book artists and writers because now they know what is happening in the world. They have easy access to content and references. Research can happen much faster, and you can work from anywhere in the world and collaborate with any artist, writer, or illustrator.
We are also digital now and have readers right across the world who can put in their opinions on the app, who can tell us exactly what is working and what is not working. So the feedback mechanism is much faster, you know, and that helps us in creating content.”
Q: With increasing social media use, people are reading less. Do you see that effect as well?
Savio Mascarenhas: Yeah, it does to some extent. But I would say it also depends on your readership. What age group are you catering to? The children that we are catering to with Tinkle are still like 8 to 14. They may not be so much hooked on to the internet as of now. India is such a huge country that new kids will always keep coming into that age bracket.”
Q: So you are not concerned about the readership of comic books in the future as such?
Savio Mascarenhas: India still has a very nuclear family system, and you have the parents who would want to inculcate the habit of reading. That will keep on going. There are always different trends which will come in. Children will move on to the app. Most of our content goes out in digital and print simultaneously.
Q: Which is your favourite comic that you’ve worked on in these many years?
Savio Mascarenhas: It’s difficult to pick. Shambhu is a character that I’ve not created but I’ve drawn for many years. Mopes and Purr and Little Shambhu are close to me in my journey as a comic book artist. With my writer Reena Puri, I have revived Little Shambhu. These characters have been very special to me.
Q: Can you recommend any other comic artists that you like?
Savio Mascarenhas: There are quite a few of them. I am a huge fan of Saumin Patel. Then there is Bakarmax and Vivek Goel. They are all fabulous artists. Like I said, there is always a space for everyone, and a comic book fan will pick up all of them.
People who have grown up reading Amar Chitra Katha come up to us and say that they want to pass on the legacy to the next generation, said Savio Mascarenhas. (Express Photo) 
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