Amar Chitra Katha - Criticism

Criticism

According to book critic Nilanjana Roy, the Amar Chitra Katha series reflects 'the stereotypes and prejudices of mainstream Indian culture; pink-skinned, fair heroes and heroines, dark asuras and villains, passive women drawn as in Indian calendar art from the male perspective'.

Criticism of the Amar Chitra Katha comics has largely revolved around two central issues: the depiction of women and the portrayal of minorites, according to author Aruna Rao. The female characters have been criticized as stereotypical, often shown to be self-sacrificing and passive in comparison to the men. Practices of sati and jauhar have been depicted without appropriate contextualization or comment. The Muslim heroes are invariably those who accommodated Hinduism in their belief systems, while Orthodox Muslims are presented as villains. The creators have also been criticized for projecting the superiority of Brahminical or upper-caste Hindu culture over other viewpoints, presenting Indian caste hierarchies uncritically. However, Aruna Rao points out that India Book House responded to some of the criticism about the depiction of women and minorities, and attempted to make amends by adopting a broader perspective.

The stories have often been criticized as distorted depictions of history, with characters being seen simplistically as 'good' and 'bad' - brave Hindu kings and Muslim 'outsiders', and so on. Also, the aim is often to create a hagiography and a lesson in character-building at the expense of authenticity and historical truth. Another criticism is that comic books, by their very nature, do not reflect the richness and complexity of the oral tradition of Indian mythology in which multiple versions of a story can co-exist simultaneously. One mainstream version is privileged over regional and folk versions, which the younger audience then comes to accept as the only 'truthful' version.