Anandamela
Anandamela Sharadiya 2002 front cover
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Editor | Paulami Sengupta |
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Former editors | Ashoke Kumar Sarkar, Nirendranath Chakravarty, Debasish Bandyopadhyay |
Frequency | Fortnightly |
Publisher | ABP Limited |
Country | India |
Language | Bengali |
Website | www |
Anandamela or, Anondamela, or, Anonodomela (Bengali: আনন্দমেলা) is a children's periodical in the Bengali language published by ABP Limited (Ananda Bazar Patrika Group) from Kolkata, India. Also, with the Sunday issue of Ananda Bazar Patrika, the Bengali, daily newspaper, a colourful page is distributed free of cost- that page is named as Anandamela.
The magazine is published on a fortnightly basis.[1] It has been edited by several eminent personalities at different times including the poet Nirendranath Chakravarty,[2] Ashok Kumar Sarkar, and Debasish Bandopadhyay. The present editor is Paulami Sengupta. Anandamela is one of the oldest surviving Bengali children's magazines and is published twice on the second and twentieth day of every month. Many authors started writing for children through Anandamela; for example, author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay was noticed as a children's author after writing Manojder Adbhut Baari, which was published in Anandamela as a serial novel. On 19 June 2004, Anandamela split up into two different magazines, the original Anandamela (for children of the age group 8 – 14), and Unish Kuri, (for teens and young adults of the age group 15 – 25). Both the magazines are edited by the same editor and editorial team. Anandamela is published from 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Kolkata 700 001.
Contents
Content
Anandamela is popular for short stories, ghost stories, novels (most often, thrillers) and original comics. In the past, Anandamela had, for over 25 years, published The Adventures of Tintin comics in the Bengali language, making it the only magazine in India to have ever published Tintin in any of the Indian languages. The publication of Tintin was started in 1975.[3][4] Tintin was translated into Bengali by the editor of the magazine, Nirendranath Chakraborty.[4] Anandamela is trusted by parents for study-material and examination tips and has a section Tomader Pata, where it publishes drawings and anecdotes written by children/readers. The following are the regular features:
- Cover story
- Short stories
- Novel/serial novel,
- Comics
- Sports
- Page for contribution of readers
- News from the world of science and IT
- Examination tips
- Study-material
- Letters to the editor
- Book review
- Puzzles
- Sudoku
- Jokes
Popular series/novels/stories
- Aranyadeb (The Phantom) comics (translated from English)
- Archie Comics (translated from English)
- Arjun by Samaresh Majumdar
- Asterix comics written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo (translated from French)
- Feluda comics by Satyajit Ray, art by Abhijit Chattopadhyay
- Gablu (Henry) comics (translated from English)
- Bagha (Tiger) comic (translated from English)
- Ghanada by Premendra Mitra
- Gogol by Samaresh Basu
- Kakababu by Sunil Gangopadhyay
- Kabulda by Rajesh Basu
- Kalaboti by Moti Nandy
- Kikira by Bimal Kar
- Mitin & Tupur by Suchitra Bhattacharya
- Pandab Goenda by Shasthipada Chattopadhyay
- Professor Shonku by Satyajit Ray
- Rahasyer Sandhane, Cent Rahasya-(Novels),Hans-saheber Behala,Rimbor Aschorjo Putul,Nafargarer HambirMahal-(Stories)by Rajesh Basu
- Rovers-er Roy (Roy of the Rovers) comics. (translated from English)
- Dosyi Dennis (Dennis the Menace) comics . (translated from English)
- Spider-Man comics (translated from English)
- Tarzan comics (translated from English)
- Flash Gordon comics
- Batman comics (translated from English)
- He-Man Comics (translated from English)
- Doohsahosi Tintin (The Adventures of Tintin) comics by Hergé (translated from French)
- Jo, Zette and Jocko Comics by Hergé (translated from French)
- Rappa Rayer Kando comics by Sujog Bondhopadhya
- Gupi & Panu by Lila Majumdar
- Dodo & Tatai by Tarapada Roy
- Comics based on the stories by Shibram Chakraborty,art by Saurav Mukhopadhyay
- Comics based on the stories by Parshuram (Rajshekhar Bose)
- Tenida comics by Narayan Gangopadhyay,art by Arijit Dutt Chowdhury
- Manojder Adbhut Bari, Harano Kakatua, Gosaibaganer Bhoot, Sadhubabar Lathi(Novels)by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay
- Dyuti, Hitoishi and young Detective Kabulda (who is also doctor by profession) by Rajesh Basu
Key writers
- Bimal Kar
- Dulendra Bhowmik
- Moti Nandy
- Nabanita Dev Sen
- Premendra Mitra
- Rajesh Basu
- Sailen Ghosh
- Samaresh Basu
- Samaresh Majumdar
- Sanjeev Chattopadhyay
- Satyajit Ray
- Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay
- Suchitra Bhattacharya
- Sukanto Gangopadhyay
- Sunil Gangopadhyay
Key artists
Art and artists were always an important part of Anandamela, thus giving birth to some memorable artist talents. Among the large number of artists who illustrated the pages and covers of Anandamela, the most memorable 17 happen to be:
- Abhijit Chattopadhyay
- Ahibhushan Malik
- Anup Roy
- Bimal Das
- Debasish Deb
- Krishnendu Chaki
- Samir Sarkar
- Satyajit Ray
- Subrata Chowdhury
- Subrata Gangopadhyay
- Sudhir Maitra
- Shubhaprasanna Bhattacharya
- Kunal Barman
- Saumen Das
- Prasenjit Nath
- Roudra Mitra
- Onkar Nath Bhattacharya
Special issue (Puja Number)
In October, the Bengali festive month, Anandamela comes in a special size of nearly 400 pages, the hallmark of which is Sunil Gangopadhyay's new novel of the thriller series, Kakababu, besides a full-length Feluda comics based on the story of Oscar winning director Satyajit Ray, illustrated by Abhijit Chattopadhyay. This special number features 5 – 6 full length complete novels, several short stories, features, three complete comic strips, some of which run up to 60 pages.
Although the fortnightly regular issues of Anandamela started much later, The Puja Number started in 1971. Its price was Rs. 2.00 and it did not contain any cartoon. Sunil Gangopadhyay is the only writer whose writings are present in every Puja Number of Anandamela from the beginning of the magazine.
Other activities
The Anandamela Club has a system of paid membership that arranges various programs, competitions and activities throughout the year for children.
Criticism
Anandamela has been criticised in the past for their over-dependence on foreign comics. Later, after Paulami Sengupta Sarkar took charge as the editor, original comics, and comics, based on Bengali literature were introduced, and all foreign comics were pulled, including The Adventures of Tintin, that was the hallmark and flagship brand of Anandamela.
See also
- Unish Kuri, sister publication of Anandamela.