# Lotpot

Earlier i use to rate Lotpot not that much high as compared with other cartoon comic/magazine such as Madhumuskan,Deewana,Parag etc.Near to me Lotpot was a kiddish type comic magazine with very ordinary features except Motu-Patlu(Of Bhardwaj Sb.only),though i read a few Lotpots in early 80's and except Pran's Chacha Chaudhry nothing impressed me as till then Bhardwaj Motu-Patlu were also drifted to other publications such as Diamond Comics etc.
Very recently i find a opportunity to lay my hands on very early issues of Lotpots and while going through them in detail a whole new dimension of Lotpot unfolded before me,i was amazed to find there features of many artists who became very popular later on.
I found unearthed features of Jagdish,Shehaab,Sukhwant,P.D.Chopra,Pran,Jitendra Bedi,Manik etc thus erasing all my misconception about the quality of Lotpot.
Along with Deewana,Lotpot was the unique comic magazine which provided initial platform to the finest cartoon artists of India from where they were able to carve their own niche.




























'Lotpot' title was registered by Mr.A.P.Bajaj in 1969,initially it was a fortnightly magazine which later on switched to weekly mode.Kripa Shankar Bhardwaj was the main protagonist and also creator of legendary Motu-Patlu.
No doubt Motu-Patlu were the main feature of attraction of Lotpot but Pran's Chacha Chaudhry was no less than along with Shehab's and Jagdish's features.
Have a look at one of the early Pran's Chacha Chaudhry

















































Pran created a numerous characters though all of them were not able to enjoy that success which Chacha Chaudhry,Billoo and Pink enjoyed.Nevertheless,in the early issues of Lotpot he created some characters which formed the base on which Billoo and Pinky were created.One such character was Deepu.
















































It was surprising to read Jagdish Ji features in early Lotpots as then his art was very much different than which we know through Madhumuskan,or better to say it was quite ordinary.
Have a look yourself to judge it.


















































What a amazing improvement in Jagdish Ji's art later on if comparing it with Popat-Chaupat and Sustram-Chustram of Madhumuskan era.
There was one another artist who also had undergone through the similar amazing transformation of improvements in his art and he was Jitendra Bedi(Manoj Chitra Katha,Raj Comics-Bankelal fame).Have a look on Jitendra Bedi of Lotpot era.



























Do you remember Jasoos Dalda(Madhumuskan),it was drawn by Manik,see one of the feature of Manik in early Lotpot.


























It was also a pleasant surprise to find work of mysterious artist Shehab Ji in Lotpot,since not very much is known about Shehab and his work hence it was something big to find some of his unseen work in Lotpot.Have a look.


























Do you know that Manglu Madari and Bandar Bihari which use to appear as a single feature in Madhumuskan were actually two different features and characters which were later on merged in a single feature by Shehab.In early Lotpots these two characters use to feature up separately.
















































Do anyone have any more information on this comic magazine,Shavak,which was supposed to be a publication of Lotpot .I never-ever came across a single issue of it.

























Sukhwant(Jr.James Bond fame of 'Chitra Bharati' and Chandru of Madhumuskan) was use to be a corner cartoonist alike Ranjit,perhaps he was allotted a full page feature for the first time in Lotpot only.

























P.D.Chopra('Minni' of Madhumuskan fame) was also a regular artist of Lotpot.


























There were also another artists such as Ajay Pandit,Jassal,Vinod etc whose features were also quite interesting.
Hence in total Lotpot was a legendary comic magazine of its time and have a history of being associated with some of the finest illustrator and cartoonists of India.
Have a look at some of the vintage covers of it.









































































Cartoonist Pran has designed very few covers for Lotpot,here are a couple of very early and rare covers designed by him.


























and here is the cover of a latest(2007) issues of Lotpot.In modern era Lotpot there is no Kripa Shankar Bhardwaj,no Sukhwant,no Jagdish and none of any other renowned artist.Most of the features are done by Harvind Makkad,a quite ordinary illustrations quality wise.Lotpot is till in publication with a history of around 2000 issues behind it.


























So,this was all in this special Lotpot post.See you in the next post.....did i forgot something!!ohh,yess..here is a complete vintage issue of Lotpot for you all.Enjoy.


























Download Lotpot No.54