Father of ‘Meena Cartoon’ Ram Mohan dies

Indian animator Ram Mohan. Photo taken from Twitter

The creator of "Meena Cartoon", Ram Mohan, has passed away at the age of 88.

The animator known as father of Indian animation, died on Thursday, according to a report by Animation Xpress. Animated TV series – Meena, one of his notable works, was very popular in South Asia specially in the 90s.

A longtime veteran of the Indian animation industry, Mohan was well-known as the chairman and chief creative officer at Graphiti Multimedia, a Mumbai-based animation company launched in 1995. He also established the Graphiti School of Animation in 2006.

Mohan started his career in 1956 with the Government of India's Cartoon Films Unit, where he worked under the umbrella of the larger Films Division. In 1968, he left Films Division and joined Prasad Productions as head of its animation division. In 1972, he established his own production company, Ram Mohan Biographics, which worked on commercials and the animated feature Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama (1992), which he co-directed in collaboration with Japanese filmmaker Yugo Sako.

Mohan's film credits also include several animated sequences created for mainstream feature films, including an animated song for B R Chopra's Pati Patni Aur Woh (1978), the title sequence for Satyajit Ray's Shatranj Ke Khilari, and a sequence for Mrinal Sen's Hindi film, Bhuvan Shome. Other film credits include Biwi O Biwi, Do aur Do Paanch and Kaamchor.

A mainstay of India's burgeoning animation industry, Mohan had personally trained many of the leading professionals working in the industry today.