July 1947.
India was just a month away from attaining freedom from the British. It was then that two men, who had participated in the freedom struggle, decided to prepare the young generation for an India that would soon be free. They were the legendary filmmakers B. Nagi Reddi and his friend Chakrapani. Nagi Reddi became the publisher of a magazine called Chandamama that was to be edited by his dear friend, Chakrapani.
"If you look at the first edition that came out in July 1947, you will see that their intention was to familiarise the post-Independence generation with Indian tradition, folklore, mythology and history in the form of stories," remembers B. Viswanatha Reddi, Nagi Reddi's son and the current editor and publisher of Chandamama. He was just three years old when the first copy came out.
Viswanatha Reddi was made the publisher of Chandamama in 1965 by his father. And, from 1975 onwards, for the last three decades, he has also been the editor.
This is the extraordinary tale of Chandamama, which has just entered its 60th amazing years.

Chandamama first appeared in Telugu and Tamil languages, with a print order of 6,000 copies. In 1948, it appeared in Kannada, and in Hindi in 1949. In 1978, Chandamama was already being published in 14 languages when a new Sinhala edition was added. It started appearing Sanskrit in 1984. Chandamama started a Santhali edition in 2004. It became the first children's magazine to be published in a tribal language.
In 2003, Reddi decided to add a Junior Chandamama to the long list of editions of the original.
Braille editions of the magazine are now available in Telugu, English and Hindi.
Today, all the languages put together, 200,000 copies of Chandamama are being sold every month. This is a remarkable feat because they do not spend a single paisa on advertising. But Reddi believes they can easily sell 600,000 to 700,000 copies a month, and they are looking at opportunities to tap such a huge market.
Recently, the Infosys Foundation has come forward to buy and distribute 6,000 copies of the Kannada and English editions of Chandamama to the rural children of Karnataka.

Article courtesy:Rediff.com