A comic fan? Grown up reading Amar Chitra Katha? How about experiencing the fun all over again in a live setting?
Amar Chitra Katha’s new creative centre inspires creativity and gratifies fans. Opened in an expansive space of 10,000 sq. ft. in Hyderabad on 31 March, ACK Alive has areas designated for art and design, life skills, performing arts, Vedic sciences and more.
A dream brought to reality by actor, producer and entrepreneur Rana Daggubati, and Future Groups founder and CEO and Kishore Biyani, the centre extends Anant Pai’s vision to teach India about its cultural roots.
ACK Alive is a space created to revitalise the ethos of Amar Chitra Katha – to engage India in the glorious culture and legacy of the land. The centre will be a platform for categories ranging from storytelling to painting, music, pottery, tailoring, and yoga.
Every room at ACK Alive is named to spark creativity. There is a section called Anant Pai Room for a theatre workshop or stage play, Amrapali Studio for Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, Bollywood Dance and acrobatic yoga, Chitralekha to learn folk arts from skilled rural artisans, Shantala art room is for the older audience to gain painting skills, while the section Tansen inspire music lessons. Under the parijata tree, children and older age groups can learn pottery and woodwork. ACK Alive has also created a storytelling corner for story listeners and storytellers.
The prime reason for selecting Hyderabad as the first location was the cultural richness of the city. The building that hosts the centre had housed the visual effects division of the Ramanaidu Studio previously, where Daggubati worked, and for him it is like coming back home, expressed the Leadership Team.
Going forward, ACK Alive aims to create one master centre in each city and smaller centres. While the master centre will cover a long list of courses, the smaller centres will have a lesser number of courses.
ACK Alive is also conducting a series of free fun-filled sessions till 14 April 2019. There are over 45 courses being offered for the summer vacations, including storytelling, classical dance, acro yoga, Indian classical music, Kalaripayattu, puppetry, yoga and much more. For three to six-year-old there is an assisted early learning fun zone.
Daggubati’s vision behind the learning centre was about creating a space where stories literally come to life as values, and as life skills. “Art is at the heart of ACK Alive,” says he.
Unveiling the vision, he added, “I discovered Amar Chitra Katha like the rest of India. These comics were my favourite story-tellers in childhood. Soon enough, I realised that these weren’t just stories or comic books; these were carriers of our ethos and values. They were also a route for me to discover a lot more about the multidimensional culture this land has nurtured over the decades. Call it extension of Uncle Pai’s vision, ACK Alive promises to become a tool in carrying forward the Indian legacy – not just through stories, but with art, sciences and life skills entrenched in our roots.”
Beginning this holiday season, ACK Alive Learning Centre offers lot of fun ideas and resources for broadening young minds. “ACK Alive is a route to your roots,’ concludes Daggubati.
