Dying ART

Are good cartoonist becoming endangered species? Once every big newspaper had its own cartoonists who were  a brand by themselves. This included Sudhir Dar in Hindustan Times, Mario Miranda in The Economic Times, Abu Abraham in The Indian Express, R K Laxman in The Times of India, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray in Marathi weekly Marmik, Vikas Sabnis in MiD-Day and several others.

Take the case of R K Laxman, one of India’s finest cartoonists.  His small  box  cartoon  “You  said it” was the most interesting piece in The Times of India. His common man with a bald pate and bulbous nose was so popular that  the Indian Postal Service featured it on a commemorative stamp on the 150th anniversary of The Times of India in 1988. The popularity of this cartoon character can be gauged by the fact that the then low cost airline Air Deccan had made him the mascot to project that the airlines was for the common man.

However, now with age taking its toll, R K Laxman is fading into the background.  On October 24, the legendry cartoonist turned 90. This man who made millions smile with his cartoons and caricature was all tears at a  simple ceremony which was held by his family and well-wishers to honour him in his house in Pune.  Laxman has been undergoing speech therapy since he suffered a series of paralytic strokes in the recent past. But the sad part is that there is none who can step into his shoes.

Group Editor of Lokmat, Dinkar Raikar says: “It is a pity that we do not have cartoonists who are of the calibre of Laxman, Mario, Abu and other stalwarts.  A cartoon does not just make you smile, but also makes you think. It  is also the responsibility of newspaper editors to scout for exceptional, young cartoonists and nurture them.”

Abhilash Khandekar, State Editorial Head,  Dainik  Bhaskar,  feels  that political cartoonists are getting sidelined day by day. He says: “I feel sorry that this feature in newspaper is slowly dying.”

Khandekar remembers how R K Laxman  had told him that the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal  Nehru would regularly call him up to appreciate his work. And this was even if he had drawn a cartoon critical of the Prime Minister.

“Newspapers perhaps think that with the advent of photoshop and new technology, and TV shows portraying politicians in different moods, political cartoons have become redundant. But this is not correct,” says Khandekar.

Another famous cartoonist who has faded from the limelight, but not from public memory is Mario Miranda. This man, who had captured the vignettes of Goan life and regaled readers with his fine caricatures and razor sharp eye for details, is spending his time in his ancestral home in Goa.

Sudhir Dar, one of India’s finest cartoonists, looks back at his 40 years in the profession to say: “It is sad to see the art of political cartooning dying. During our time, cartoons used to be published on the front page. Now they are relegated to op-ed pages.  This is because  their standard is not up to the mark. My contemporaries including Laxman, Mario, Abu Abhraham and others were giants who had fire in their belly.

Unfortunately, the same is missing among the current crop.”  According to him, the current lot are not cartoonists, but mere illustrators.
Keshav, a popular cartoonist who works for The Hindu, feels it would be wrong to compare the current crop of cartoonists with people like Laxman, Sudhir Dar, Miranda. “One has to realise that recognition takes time.  I don’t agree that the current generation of cartoonists lack talent. A time will come when they will also attain the same level of popularity.”

The perception that cartooning is a field dominated by men changed when Maya Kamath’s work made people sit up and take notice. Her cartoons regularly adorned the pages of several newspapers for years, until  her untimely death due to cancer in 2001.

There are other well-known cartoonists too, who have been all but forgotten.  Take for example Shankar of Shankar’s Weekly. Or Abu Abraham, who is the only cartoonist to have worked with British papers for almost 16 years. Then there was Ranga who featured in the Limca Book of World Records for having the highest collection of some 2,000 autographed cartoons of national and international celebrities. Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray is also a fine cartoonist, though his advancing age has now stopped him from pursuing his hobby.

When journalists retire, they are replaced by others. But what do you do when legendry  cartoonists  retire or fade away?  Institutions that teach journalism can produce journalists. But how can you produce a cartoonist?

Perhaps to ensure that the cartoonists do not become extinct,  some veterans from the field joined hands  to start a cartoon institute ­ - the Indian Institute of Cartoonists (IIC) in June 2001, in Bangalore. The man behind it was B V Ramamurthy, who is himself a cartoonist. The purpose of the institute was to recognise talent in the field of cartooning and reward them, showcase and preserve their art for future generations, and guide young and budding cartoonists. Above all, its aim is to popularise the art among the masses.

     
The Indian Institute of Cartoonists (IIC) has so far felicitated 15 leading cartoonists, conferring them with Lifetime Achievement Awards.  The awardees include R K Laxman, Mario de Miranda, Pran, Unny, S D Phadnis, and Vasant Saravate. It has also organised many workshops for budding cartoonists.

V G Narendra, a renowned cartoonist of Shankar’s Weekly, who is also the Managing Trustee of IIC, admits that times have changed for cartoonists. Earlier, there were a large number of great cartoonists in India, but now their numbers have dwindled.

        
“Truly the trend has changed. Earlier we used to run about the newspaper offices with our cartoons. Now, the editors of newspapers and magazines are looking for cartoonists,” says Narendra. “This is why we are doing everything to encourage cartoonists. For the first time in the history of India, IIC has established a Cartoon Gallery.  We give space to cartoonists so that they can display their works free of cost. So far we have organised 58 cartoon exhibitions including R K Laxman, Mario, Abu, Shankar, S D Phadnis, Ranga, Maya Kamath, Prabhakar Wairkar, Prabhakar Bhatlekar and Sreyas Navare.

Every year we organise a contest for excellence in political cartooning and best budding cartoonist,” he said. Laxman once said “As long as there are pot holes, traffic jams, corruption and problems of price rise, cartoonists will not have to worry about their bread and butter.” But it seems Laxman’s prediction  has been proven wrong. Corruption in India has shot up drastically, the size of the potholes have increased, traffic jams have intensified, and inflation  is touching the roof. Yet there are very few political cartoonists to give us respite.