Veergatha series released in comic format

NEW DELHI: The 'Veergatha' series life story of five Param Veer Chakra awardees released on Monday by defence minister Manohar Parrikar, HRD minister Smriti Irani and chief of the army staff General Dalbir Singh is a completely new set in terms of illustrations to writer and even format from what was finalised last September.
Conceived originally as graphic novels, what has been brought out is in the comic book format.The entire series was to be first released on August 15 and later on September 5, the Teachers' Day. Illustrators had worked closely with Lt Gen (Retd) Mukesh Sabharwal and delivered all the books by end of August while the National Book Trust's editorial department worked on the text. The texts were sent to ministries of defence and HRD for approval. NBT director Rita Chowdhury said, "This set was approved by the defence ministry. But it was felt in the HRD ministry that children in the age of 9 to 12 years will not understand graphic novel format. Therefore, it was decided to make it like a comic book."
An illustrator involved with many children's books said, "By turning it into Amar Chitra Katha format, the story of bravery has lost gravity. It has also become fictional. We had worked so hard to give it graphic novel format." He also pointed out that unlike comic books, the new set has all texts in capital letters, generally avoided in comic format. Present Veergatha series includes Major Somnath Sharma (1947 war), Major Shaitan Singh (1962 war), Abdul Hamid (1965 war), Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal (1971 war) and Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey (1999 Kargil war).
But in December, illustrators who worked on the first set were shocked to find that their work was to be shelved. Illustrators who had opted for sale-based royalty for the shelved set were sent letters from NBT that they can take one-time royalty for something that will never see the light of day.
While planning a new set, NBT also shelved the illustrators and its own design and editorial department. It reached out to new relatively unknown illustrators which Chowdhury claims were picked from a panel and a new writer in Gaurav Sawant, a journalist. Sawant was asked to do the text for five Param Vir Chakra awardees. When pointed out that never before, one writer has been given so many books in a series, Chowdhury said, "Sawant has been given the first lot. There was no problem with the text of the shelved set."