How Popular Prakashan plans to remain a force to reckon with in its centenary year
Popular Prakashan, the centenarian publishing house, founded in 1924, continues to thrive under the leadership of 89-year-old Ramdas Bhatkal and his son Harsha.
MUMBAI: On a rain-swept afternoon, the patriarch of Popular Prakashan (PP), the publishing house celebrating its centenary year, 89-year-old publisher, academic and musician Ramdas Bhatkal settles down by a window of the living room in his Prabhadevi house, to reminisce how it all began. He was all of three then, but the smell of stacks of books in the shop remains fresh.
Bhatlkal’s first memories of PP -- inaugurated on May 1, 1924 -- are of Lamington Road’s Popular Book Depot, where the staff “attended to customers as my father Ramesh Bhatkal put his heart and soul into running the shop”. In the late 1930s, as the Bhatkal residence in Girgaum was barely a kilometer away from the bookshop, he “spent more time there than home.” He says, every stone on the cobbled pavement, fire hydrant, shop and hawker are imprinted on his mind.
So, what made PP special? “We were the ‘only complete book shop.’ We sold everything from books on nursery rhymes, textbooks, devotional stuff, cookery, and academic books for higher studies for disciplines like medicine and engineering. There was fiction, non-fiction, poetry and more,” he recounts. “The 10 salespersons employed at the store knew where each book was. If we didn’t have something, it would be arranged through our network.”
Early days
His father Ramesh Bhatkal came to Mumbai with his maternal uncle when only eight “for better schooling” from Bhatkal, Karnataka. The uncle worked for Ball & Co. which manufactured sewing machines and other sewing paraphernalia and when barely 12 the senior Bhatkal began shadowing his uncle. To popularise their goods the company published books on tailoring, and the promotion of the books fell upon the uncle-nephew duo. “I believe that was the germ of the idea of PP,” says Bhatkal. His father’s stint at the Oxford University Press as a clerk, opened his eyes to bigger possibilities. “They only sold imported books and my father learnt the ropes there,” he says.
When he was on his next job with the Karnataka Printing Press - assigned with printing and publishing government’s acts, rules, orders, confidential documents etc -- the owner Mangesh Kulkarni warmed up to Ramesh Bhatkal’s work ethic and disposition. Soon, from colleagues they became relatives when Ramesh married his boss’ daughter Sumitra.
After they wed the senior Bhatkal joined a publishing firm at Nana Chowk, D A Nadkarni & Co – which specialised in books on medicine - and quickly grew from being salesman to working partner.
At the time political winds were changing course. WWI (1914-18) had seen enforced conscription of Indians as cannon fodder. The Rowlatt Act (suspended political prisoners’ rights in sedition trials) and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (April 13, 1919) saw Gandhi launch the Non-Cooperation Movement (1919-22).
Ramdas’s elder brother Sadanand was born in 1922. As the family grew his father wanted to start his own enterprise and set up PP at Nana Chowk adjacent to D A Nadkarni & Co. “We never looked back since.” Bhatkal recalls his father lugging huge sacks of books on the tram from Nana Chowk to JJ hospital from where he would carry them to students in hostel. “They never forgot him when they became leading doctors later; and all of us got free treatment with great fondness!”
As he pottered around the shop after school, Bhatkal was indulged by the staff, his brother and father, often letting him be the cashier. He had a sense that “important people were visiting the shop”.
“Later I recognised Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Nani Palkhiwala, Durgabai Bhagwat, Prof Kosambi, P K Atre, Prabodhankar Thackeray as the regulars to our shop,” he says. While he did not join public protests, the senior Bhatkal was aligned to both Swadeshi and Gandhian philosophies. “We had three large pictures of the Goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati, and Gandhi, who was making headlines for his satyagraha movement, on the wall of our spartan home. My Gandhism began there.”
Go-to place for Marathi books
And then it was 1939 and WWII broke out. “Imports took a hit but our business prospered as the British government gave us huge contracts for books for the military, especially the Armed Forces Medical College. After our father bought the Bombay Book Depot in 1948, business grew as he decided to make the new place - now renamed PP - a go-to place for Marathi books.”
At 17 Bhatkal met academic-writer Gangadhar Gadgil and persuaded him to let PP publish him. “And that’s how I turned publisher! Despite my brother’s encouragement I set aside plans to study and teach at Oxford, and pursued both MA and LLB right here in Mumbai,” he says.
Eventually, when he did travel across the shores, it was to engage in stints with three major UK publishers, who were acquainted with his brother, to learn about cutting-edge publishing. “Once I returned, I was given an independent office in the Popular Press building from where I ran operations for over 20 years,” says Bhatkal, who had at the time simultaneously pursued a PhD in comparative analysis of Gandhi, Ambedkar and Sawarkar’s ideologies.
He rubbishes the idea that the era of the printed book is over. “People have written obits for books for long. Voluminous sales may be a thing of the past, but the printed book will persevere. We now have the wherewithal to print even small batches of 200 copies unlike before,” he says.
It is not for nothing that some of the biggest literary figures speak so highly of PP. “If you document the history of Marathi literature post-Independence you cannot do so without mentioning PP,” says playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar, who praises the family for consistently backing the best in writing.
Noted poet and actor Kishore Kadam echoes Elkunchwar, recounting how Ramdas Bhatkal heard his poetry at NCPA and sought him out to publish leading to his first anthology – ‘Aani Tarihi Mi’ which swept 17 literary awards in Marathi in 2002. “PP has been the fountainhead of some of the best literature - cutting across genres. It is rare for publishers to have such an acute sense of literary history and context. No wonder they have the big names from literature in their collection. It is an exceptional feat to have kept up with the highest literary standards for so long,” says Kadam.
Chef Sanjeev Kapoor who has published over 250 titles in 25 years with PP in English and nine Indian languages says, “They were supportive and helped me in my journey into people’s kitchens and hearts long before TV and internet made everything available with a few clicks. Even now people bring my books to get them autographed.”
“Ramdas is a great writer, publisher, musician and really great company. PP published my earlier plays like ‘Jaswandi’ and ‘Aalbel’,” says filmmaker and playwright Sai Paranjpye, who is in the middle of going through the proofs of her forthcoming play ‘Ivalese Rop’ with the editors at PP.
When asked about the future of PP, Bhatkal points in the direction of his son Harsha who now manages the publishing house. “We’re looking at continuity with change. Our team understands the importance of our culture but is tuned to new technology and changing reader habits. While promoting outstanding literature in Marathi we’re exploring selling rights of our vast library to OTT channels and production houses,” he says, adding, “Translations from other Indian and foreign languages into Marathi and vice-versa is another growth area. As many new avenues for distribution become available, publishing will be an exciting challenge in the years ahead.”