Pran was born in Kasur now in Pakistan. The family shifted to India at the time of partition. His eldest brother Kanwarnath was an artist who graduated from Jaipur School of Art. He influenced Pran.Pran sent his cartoons to the periodicals and they were published. This motivated him. Initially, he drew pocket cartoons, most of which were political. Then he explored cartooning around a theme and discussed this with Dharmveer Bharati, the then editor of Dharmyug.Thus he drew cartoons using line from the famous poets such as Dinkar, Pant and Nirala. The series was called Kavita Cartoon. In order to counter the foreign cartoon syndication agencies, Pran started his own Pran Features Syndicate, and started drawing comic strips under his own banner. He wrote and drew his comics, and then made copies.He posted them to publications. Slowly, the publications started accepting.

He wanted to create a cartoon character as against the superheroes of the West. He wanted to deviate from the stereotype. He thought of an old man — short, not very good-looking and frail too. Pran based him on Chanakya and gave him the power of wit. This is how Chacha Chowdhary was conceived.

Chacha started as a village simpleton with a turban and dhoti-kurta. he was given a laathi too. Over a period of time, he was made modern — wearing a vest, a tie, sports shoes and carrying a walking stick. But his two prominent features still remain — totally desi — his moustache and his turban. His stories changed too.He was formerly fighting petty criminals. In the 1970s, he started fighting dacoits. Later, the stories incorporated plane hijacking, terrorism and cricket matches.

Chacha and Saboo are fond of food just as Pran himself was. Chacha’s pet dog was Rocket. Cartoonist Pran Sharma expired in August, 2014.