NEW DELHI: Veteran satirical cartoonist RK Laxman received the first-ever Comic Con India Lifetime Achievement award on the eve of the Second Comic Con India Convention which began in the capital today.

The award was received by his daughter-in-law Usha Laxman who had flown in from Mumbai for the occasion.

This is the first time that awards have been instituted by any organisation in the field of comics, cartoons and animation. The Convention, organised by Twenty Onwards Media, will last for three days from 17 to 19 February.

Suhas Sunder received the award for best writer for the first issue of ?Odayan?, while Lalit Kumar Sharma received the best artist award for ?Jungle Book?.

?Nelson Mandela? by Campfire Graphic Novels received the Comic Book of the Year award, while ?Tinkle? Holiday Special received the Best Publication of the year award.

?Best Legion? received the award for best web comic, and Vimanika Comics received the Best Cover award for ?I am Kalki?.

The website flipkart.com was named best retailer and Variety Book Depot the best distributor for comics.

In addition, an unpublished work, ?Satya Police? by Gagandeep, was awarded a grant of Rs 50,000 and a publishing deal with Comic Con.

Comic Con India Founder Jatin Varma said the aim was to felicitate the best Indian Comics and Comics Creators, and give them the recognition they deserve, among their peers.

There are no awards for the Indian comics industry and he hopes these will serve as a catalyst to push more people into the industry.

The Awards aim to recognise the work that the professionals in India‘s Comics Industry do. It?s an attempt to bring into focus the novelty of this art form and acknowledge the efforts of numerous writers, artists and publishers in this field.

The jury consisted of Orijit Sen (Graphic Artist and Designer), Vaibhav Kumaresh (Animation Filmmaker) and the Comic Con India Core team.

Meanwhile, the Comic Con opened with presentations by several renowned artists and publishers. There are around 50 stalls including those by Animation schools from Vancouver in Canada and San Francisco in the United States. Around 80 participants from India and overseas are attending the three-day event, and the first day saw huge crowds around the stalls.

In addition, there were a large number of persons dressed as their favourite comic characters who moved around the Comic Con venue.

MUMBAI: Sab, the family comedy entertainment channel from Multi Screen Media, is launching two new fiction shows, ‘Chidiyaghar‘ and ‘RK Laxman Ki Duniya‘ starting from 28 November, thereby increasing their original primetime programming.

Chidiyaghar will take the Monday-Friday 9 pm band, replacing Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo, which is being shifted to 11.30 pm slot. RK Laxman? will take the 9.30 pm slot, substituting Mrs. Tendulkar, which goes off air.

Interestingly, the channel will air the repeat of Tarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma at 11 pm, as it generates "good ratings" as per Sab top executive.

"We have increased our original programming and now original shows will air from 7.30pm -11 pm and from 11.30 pm till midnight. We have decided to keep the repeat telecast of Tarak Mehta? at 11 pm as it also fetches us good ratings," Sab TV EVP & business head Anooj Kapoor said.

The 9 pm show Chidiyaghar is produced and directed by Ashwini Dheer from Garima Productions, while RK Laxman is produced by JD Majethia (Hats off Productions) and Dharmesh Mehta (NamanRaj Productions).

Chidiyaghar‘s concept revolves around an idea that humans too have animal traits in them and it is our values and culture that separates humans from animals.

Meanwhile, the channel believes that RK Laxman? is the best fit for Sab as Laxman‘s cartoons always took a light-hearted view of serious issues.