We’re are all familiar with cartoons, be it in magazines, newspapers, web illustrations, comic books and the fact remains that they provide us with comic relief after a long day. Throughout the globe, cartoonists have used their art as a medium to highlight social stigmas, injustice, corruptions and even applauded the deserved ones when required. Today, on Cartoonist’s Day, we take a look at some of the aces from the Indian cartoon industry, who though have left us, have managed to leave a treasure of legacies which will forever be etched in history.
Shankar Pillai
The genre of political cartooning in India is highly popular now, but all of the (critical) humour that we get our hands on right now was pioneered by one man. Kesava Shankara Pillai, or Shankar as he was fondly and popularly known, was born in 1902 at Kayamkulam. Considered as the ‘Father of Indian political cartooning’, he was the founder of Shankar’s Weekly which he edited and published himself and it is often coined as the ‘Punch’ of India and inspired other cartoonists like Abu Abraham, Ranga and Kutty. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1976 and now is widely remembered for setting up Children’s Book Trust. The maestro had been indulged in the essence of drama and a lot of literary work. The pioneer passed away in 1986, leaving his legacy behind to encourage the budding cartoonists.
Balasaheb Thackeray
Bal Keshav Thackeray or more popularly known as Balasaheb Thackery is famed to the masses as the founder of the Shiv Sena political party. But, he was a man of many talents, one of them being a cartoonist. He started his career with the The Free Press Journal, however soon moved on to create his own political weekly named Marmik. His cartoons served to his campaigns against the rising number of non-Marathi people in Mumbai. Vigilant on his side, he depicted all of it through intricate illustrations. Apart from that, his works reflected and highlighted the rise of poverty and price-rise and even critical issues like riots and then growing arms distribution throughout the country. The cartoon maestro passed away in the year 2012.
RK Laxman
R.K. Laxman or Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Laxman is one of the most famed cartoonists of the country. He illustrated his elder brother, R.K. Narayan’s stories in The Hindu during his college days and eventually joined his first fulltime job as a political cartoonist at The Free Press Journal. He is mostly noted for his cartoon character called ‘The Common Man’ and for his comic strip called, You Said It. Initiated in 1951, the ‘The Common Man’ since then has carried the hopes, ambitions, grievances of the common Indian masses and highlighted them in a light hearted yet critically important way. The character was so widely accepted that he was featured in one of the postal stamps released by the Indian Postal Service to commemorate the 150th anniversary of The Times Of India. He passed away in 2015 at the age of 93.
Mario Miranda
Famed for his fantastic illustrations in The Times of India and The Illustrated Weekly of India, Mario Miranda definitely glorified his spot as one of the top notch cartoonists of India. Born on 2 May, 1926 in the Portuguese province of India (now Daman), his real life cartoons always portrayed a strong imagery of the daily life. Mostly set in the backdrops of a street corner, food joints or some recreational place, his cartoons carried back and forth a vivid variety of emotions and daily life. His cartoons can be found replete over the walls of one of South Mumbai’s most famous locations, Cafe Mondegar at Colaba. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1988 and the Padma Bhushan in 2002. India Cartoonists’ Association, Bangalore, honoured him with a lifetime achievement award too. The cartoonist genius passed away in 2011. This year, Google paid homage to his talent with a Google doodle on his death anniversary.
Pran Kumar Sharma
Pran Kumar Sharma or more popularly known as Pran, was one of the most well known cartoonists of India. He was the force behind the creation of India’s favourite cartoon character, ‘Chacha Chaudhary’. Pran initiated his career in 1960 as a cartoonist for the Delhi based newspaper Milap with a comic strip called Daabu. In 1969, he etched Chacha Chaudhary for the Hindi magazine ‘Lotpot’, which also featured another immensely successful comic strip called ‘Motu Patlu’ illustrated by Kripa Shankar Bhardwaj, which has been transformed into a CGI animated show on Nickelodeon. Pran received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 from Indian Institute of Cartoonists and was also included in People of the year 1995 by Limca Book of Records for popularising comics in India. He passed away in 2014, leaving behind comic treasures to be relished forever.
Vijay Narain Seth
Born in 1944, Vijay Narain Seth was an Indian cartoonist, better known by his pen name, Vins. He considered veteran cartoonist Mario Miranda as his mentor and started off as a political cartoonist. He worked with Himmat weekly and contributed with a cartoon names, Chalta hai. His works grace the Penguin Book of Indian cartoons. The illustrator contributed to various categories like science, business, politics and more. He was the first Indian contributing cartoonist for the Indian Edition of Reader’s Digest in 1976. 21 of his satirical cartoons are now part of the online cartoon museum of Aydin Dogan Wakfi in Istanbul, Turkey and some of his cartoons have also been made part of permanent collection at the International Cartoon Museum and the Karikatur and Cartoon Museum, Basel in Switzerland. He passed away in 2014.
Sudhir Tailang
Sudhir Tailang, born in 1960 at Bikaner, Rajasthan, beautifully and wittily interspersed humour with politics while fabricating critical satires to contemporary politics. He has been associated with the Illustrated Weekly of India and the Nav Bharat Times, Hindustan Times, The Times of India and The Indian Express. In 2009, he released a book titled ‘No, Prime Minister’ which had cartoons and illustrations depicting Manmohan Singh during his stretch of being the Prime Minister. He received the prestigious Padma Shri award in 2004 for his contributions in the art of cartooning. Even though he was a critic of the contemporary politics, famous political personalities mourned when he passed away in the year 2016.
Ram Waeerkar
The brush master behind the the famed Amar Chitra Katha, Ram Waeerkar was an integral part in the history of cartoons in India. He was the talent who churned out famous characters like Suppandi, Pyarelal, Choru and Joru and many more in the widely read monthly magazine, Tinkle. His works which reflected mythology, fables and legends from the Indian subcontinent were hugely popular, as was his comic characters like Suppandi, who is an ignorant, but faithful servant to his masters, but his ignorance cost him many jobs. His sheer talent was appreciated by the likes of many, from the common man to celebrities alike. He passed away in 2003.