Fiction
First Amar Chitra Katha woman scriptwriter Kamala Chandrakant passes on
MUMBAI: Writers are a much-in-demand breed. Good scriptwriters even more so. Almost every studio head would give an arm and a leg to get a brilliant one on board.
And imagine what one would feel when we lose one of them. Just ask Amar Chitra Katha CEO & president Preeti Vyas and she will tell you it bites deep, it hurts so much. Her studio has just lost Kamala Chandrakant – a feisty writer of the seventies, eighties and nineties.
Said Preeti in a tribute to the powerhouse of a teller of stories many of us have grown up reading:
“We are deeply saddened by the passing away of Kamala Chandrakant, the first woman scriptwriter of Amar Chitra Katha, on 9 Feb, 2025. She was 84. None of us in the present team have worked with Kamala but her stories are legendary.”
“Known to be a courageous woman, who thought way ahead of her times, we’ve heard of the many spirited arguments she had with Uncle Pai on why women heroes deserved more space in the comics. She was the scriptwriter for most of the Mahabharata series and for hundreds of other titles.
“Kamala will always be remembered with awe, respect and affection by our team.”
RIP Kamala! Your stories will continue to educate generations to come!
(B&W Picture of Kamala Chandrakant courtesy Preeti Vyas; Kamala has passed on even as the ScreenWrters Association is set to kick off its annual confab on 14 February in Mumbai )
MUMBAI: On Christmas morning, whilst most of Mumbai slept off festive cheer, Satyam Tripathi’s heart gave out. 25 December proved cruelly ironic for a man who’d spent his career crafting drama—this time, there would be no second take. He was only 57.
Tripathi was a scriptwriter’s scriptwriter. Within India’s chaotic television industry, where writers are treated rather like spare parts, he’d carved out something rare: respect. For years, he sat on the executive committee of the Screen Writers Association, helping transform along with other leaders, what was once a talking shop into an organisation with teeth. When writers’ rights were little more than punchlines, Tripathi helped pen a different ending.
His credits read like a greatest hits of Indian telly: Hitler Didi, 12/24 Karol Bagh, Ek Mutthi Aasman, Parvarrish Kuchh Khattee Kuchh Meethi. Millions laughed, cried and switched channels to his work. He also championed the association’s Screen Writing Awards, ensuring that good writing didn’t go unnoticed in an industry obsessed with ratings and revenue.
Those who knew him speak of an affable soul, generous with time and advice. In a cut-throat business, Tripathi was that rarest of creatures: genuinely helpful.
His remains were cremated the same evening in the presence of industry associates and friends. The credits rolled quickly. But his final script—a better deal for India’s writers—continues to play out. That’s the sort of ending he’d have appreciated.
(Scriptwriters, producers and friends will be getting together to honour Satyam Kumud Tripathi’s memory and to hold a prayer meeting on 29 December. The location: Shri Guru Singh Sabha Gurudwara, 4 Bungalows, Andheri West, Mumbai. The time: between 3:30 PM and 5:00 PM.)
