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Tribute to Sudhir Tailang
| No Prime minister book by Sudhir Tailang |
It's an unusual cartoon collection.All of my previous anthologies have focused mainly on the tenures of different Prime ministers.The one on your hands is absolutely different.It features about 150 cartoons of only one protagonist:Prime minister Manmohan Singh.
Dr.Singh is not your run-of-the -mill politician.The sole ambition of many of our politicians is,generally,to,somehow,make it to Dr Singh is different.He may not aspire to be in the company of his tribesmen in the cartoon.But, despite his best efforts he fails to avoid the cartoonist's brush! He has to share the same space,within the confines of a cartoon box, with many politicians he despises.But, these are some of the perks that come along with the chair-if you happen to be the PM of India.
In fact,a politician remains a non-entity till he actually makes it to the coveted cartoon space.In that sense,it's a measurement of a leader's stature too,as to how importantly,and how often,he's featured in cartoons.To that extent,without any doubt,Dr Singh is King!
If I spread all my cartoon that I drew in the past five years,that'd be more than one and a half thousand drawings.And A major chunk of it would go to Dr Singh! That's his influence in Indian politics!
When I started my professional career as a cartoonist way back in 1982,Mrs Indira Gandhi was ruling the roost.She was the typical Indian politician a cartoonist could ever imagine.She fitted the slot reserved for cartoon pretty naturally.She seemed quite at home with the cartoonist.A pointed nose,a white strip of hair,a rudraksh mala and a snooty attitude!That's what made Indira Gandhi the darling of the cartoonist.She must have been the most cartooned politician of India after Independence!There was something beyond the external features of Mrs Gandhi. Something that was outside the reach of the camera.And that's what actually contributed to the success of her arrogance!If a cartoon captured what wasn't visible to the naked eye,it was guaranteed to succeed.No politician has been able to replace her ever since!
I have drawn some nine PMs and scores of Politician in the past 25years or so.I'm thankful to all of them for all their antics that helped me establish as a cartoonist.
Each new PM is a mystery for me.The moment he takes the reins of power,I begin to sharpen my tools.The white sheet of paper entices him to my parlour.The seduction of the drawing board is too tempting to ignore.All PMs ultimately give in to the charms of my brush!
PVN Rao remains my most favourite PM todate.He was a dream come true for me.His entire persona was invented for me.The flaring nostrils,the lovely pout,the long sleeves of his kurta!He was a still installation in the south block art gallery! Rao is and will always remain my hero number one.
BJP's prime ministerial candidate LK Advani is my hero number two He has been at the other end of my brush for many years.His bald pate,toothbrush like moustache and bushy eyebrows make him a treat! If he ever became the PM,we cartoonists will have a field day.
No PM has dissapointed me so far.Not even Dr.Singh who had every possibility of failing me! Four years ago I couldn't have imagined that some day he would flower into the king of the cartoon!He is the luckiest politician in India!He's never won even a municipal election in his life.Yet,he is India's PM.He's envied by his fellow congressmen.
He's the man who launched Economic Liberalization in P.V Narsimha Rao's Finance Minister.He's steered a booming economy and hoped to achieve a 10percent growth rate ---but,ironically,ended up with a double digit inflation!
When India went to the people in the summer of 2004,Vajpayee was totally convinced that India was shining.He could not believe that people thought otherwise and he lost the election.
Dr Singh hadn't even in his wildest dreams ever thought that he'd be the PM soon! As Sonia Gandhi's Congress party cobbled up a majority to form a Government there were widespread protests against a person of foreign origin becoming the PM! Sonia decided to swear in MM Singh as PM.
India has had only a few PMs who earned their throne.People believe in destiny in India.It's not the people of India,but destiny that decides who'd rule them!Prime minister is a windfall in India.You don't even have to be a player in the gambling to win the prize!Jawahar Lal Nehru earned it.Shashtri deserved it.Indira Gandhi inherited it.So did Rajiv Gandhi.
For Deve Gowda,IK Gujral and Chandrasekhar it was a lottery! For PV Narsimha Rao too, it was a bounty he never expected!
VP SIngh schemed to reach the South Block,and succeeded in realizing his dream! But he couldn't pretend for long and lost it because he didn't deserve it in the first place! Vajpayee genuinely deserved it and proved worthy of it.
Dr Singh was airdropped at the South Block.An honest official and an able Finance Minister,Singh was never allowed to live upto his post! His Leftist Allies made life miserable for him.They didn't allow much elbow room for him to manoeuvred.
His Boss,Sonia Gandhi,never loosened the reins!
He was a sidekick in my earlier cartoons.I never imagined a very simple docile gentlemen could turn into a splend cartoon material.It's difficult to ignore him!He slips into my cartoons silently.When he has to take approval from Sonia Gandhi for even small decisions of his Government,he automatically qualifies to be in my cartoons.
The Indo-US Nuclear Deal has been his obsession.It's been a matter of life and death for him.Much more important than even his Government!That's why he staked his Government in order to get rid of the major stumbling block--the Leftist allies.
For me,both,the Leftists as well as the Deal,made my job easier.The Leftists reminded me of Jayalalitha during Vajpayee's tenure of thirteen months.She made mince meat of Vajpayee and extracted her pound of flesh.
Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechuri were the male avatars of Jayalalitha for the hapless Dr singh.
But there's always an Amar Singh who enters the screen in the last reel to rescue the hero.He gave a second lease of life to the UPA government.And many cartoon ideas to me.Wads of currency notes being waved in Parliament and accussations of horsetrading..tured out to be a boon for thecartoonst.
Actually.a coalition government best serves the cartoonist's interest Much
Of its energies are invested in the effort to survive.And in keeping the brush-wielders busy.
The UPA government didn't dissapoint me.Neither did it's PM--:DR Singh. Please enjoy the comic history of Dr.Singh.For it's a slice of India's history too!
BY Cartoonist Sudhir Tailang
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| Cartooning the Nation by Sudhir Tailang |
'Political cartooning is dying an untimely death in India.'
In the intellectual circles the conversation often revolves around this topic.Some people feed nostalgic and remember the legends like Shanker. And talk about the Shankar's Weekly for a while and lament its absence.
Its political cartooning really dying,or is it rather close to extinction? Or is it already dead? These are some of the questions we'd make an effort to find answers to.But, that's later.
India is a paradise for cartoonists.Most of our politicians work selflessly for the cartoonists..., and not for the people.
Cartooning has been through many ups and downs in India in the past one century.We have a rich tradition of cartooning.Newspaper,the Hindustan Times where I worked for many years,can claim credit for introducing this art form in India.Shankar was the first cartoonist of the HT.or of any newspaper in India.From Pt.Nehru to Manmohan Singh, no prime minister has dissapointed us cartoonists.
In the past two decades or so,I have had the privilege of drawing many prime ministers.Most of them invented solely to serve the cause of cartooning!
Indira Gandhi was no exception.She was a great cartoon lover.On Nehruji's birthday, One year, she went to Shankar Pillai.And presented 20 originals cartoons to his father as a birthday gift.
My career as a professional cartoonist began in 1982,she was the Prime Minister at that time.Everybody thought that a long and sharp nose and white streak of hair was enough to capture her! But her personality extended far beyond the two trademark features! For, it's not just the external features that make a caricature.Unless you capture the essence of the personality you can't get the atma or the soul of the character!
David Low,the great English cartoonist,rightly said once-"A caricature is not what you look like-but what you Ought to look like!"
Cartoonist captured Indiraji's supreme self confidence,her autocratic streak,her snootiness and her strength of character,she was assassinated.I thought my career was over with her demise.
Rajiv Gandhi was hardly the stuff cartoons are made of! A frightening prospect for any cartoonist! He wad too handsome to be caricatured and too innocent to be rediculed -atleast,in his intial days!But there is some hidden force that propels prime ministers towards the cartoonist's drawing board.The relationship is almost like that of a moth and the flame! The first six months is months is a period of honeymoon with the people-and after that begins a very special honeymoon with the cartoonist!
Rajiv Gandhi did not fail us cartoonists!V.P.Singh,Chandrashekhar,Deve Gowda,IK gujral...no Prime Minister has dissapointed the cartoonist.Mr Manmohan Singh did not dissapoint my tribesmen when he was the Finance Minister,and he's lived upto my expectations as a PM! He must be one of the luckiest politicians who got the highest job on a platter! The Nuclear Deal has put on the center stage for us.The Leftists have made my job even easìer by easier by making his a tough one!
L.K.Advani is one politician who has dominated the cartooning scene inspite of one being Prime Minister ever.He is a dream come true for a cartoonist! The dream begins from his head shining smooth! Then his toothbrush moustache! His shy eyes and his not so shy brand of politics.What else could you ask for! He has evolved to be one of my tribe's main sources of bread and butter!
In that sense I am indebted to him for some of the credit for my cartooning career must go to him...for some of the credit for my cartooning career must go to him.The most of it, of course, goes to P.V.Narasimha Rao! Rao remains my all time favourite to date! He was the best Prime Minister cartoonists could ever dream of! Flaring nostrils,a pout that became almost a landmark of Delhi!It's interesting to see how a scholor and an elder statesman can evolve into a first rate caricature! Initially,my caricature of Rao slightly resembled him,but soon there was a situation when he started looking like my caricature of him! The caricature represented his personality more than he himself did!
Atal Behari Vajpayee is not someone who'd inspire a cartoonist! But when your government falls within a period of 13 days,you deserve to be in that three coloumn frame! He has been pushed into situations where he's always been at the mercy of the cartoonist! When Jayalaltha pounced upon him and mauled him,inspite of his unwillingness to be a cartoonist's darling,he became one!Whether India was shining or not,Atalji and his colleagues were shining in our cartoons.And let me admit, lt is we cartoonists who really FELT GOOD through out Atalji's tenure!
The cartoon has come of age in India.It has become an integral part of journalism and democracy.Democracy and freedom are life blood a cartoonist.A cartoonist can't function and survive without his freedom.That's one of the reasons why the art of cartooning has flourished only in democratic countries.But,as Abu Abraham once wrote-'Nobody gives you freedom on a platter...you have to assert your freedom.'
And not surprisingly,when journalists were crawling when they were asked to bend,during the Emergency,it was Abu who was the sole voice of dissent!
After all,cartooning is an art of dissent, an art of protest.It's a negative art...in a positive way.Bečause a cartoonist ultimately dreams of a world in which his role will be eventually eliminated! For,there is no role for a cartoonist in a Utopian world.Fortunately for us,and unfortunately for you,that's a near impossible dream!
We have a rich tradition of cartooning in India! Politicians have learnt to live with it!Many of them really enjoy a good cartoon even if it is at their own expense!They've phoned me on several occasions to ask for the day's original drawing!
I am greatly privileged in the sense that cartooning gives me immense power to reduce the mightiest in the land to mere caricatures!
Years back a cartoonist had said that there will be a time when the divining line between the politician and the caricature will dissapear! And that will be the most difficult time for the cartoonist!The last decade saw the evolution of the politician from the leader to the comic caricature...and to the criminal!
Let me come back to the question I raised in the beginning..Is cartooning dying?
I'd like to tell you that a few weeks ago a young and very talented cartoonist from south India came to see me.He was working for a newspaper there and his editor completely stopped using his cartoons.One fine morning,his editor called him to his cabin.
I'm rather sad at the poor state of cartooning in the world,'the editor said with a grim expression on his face.'The art of Political cartooning is dying',-he continued.The young cartoonist was rather touched by his editor's concern.
The young man gathered courage and said...'If you think cartooning is dying,you should protect and groom it rather than killing it,Sir!You have no cartoons in the paper,Sir!:'
'But,do you know that cartooning is dead in England.They don't use front page pocket cartoons anymore?' The editor put on the table The Observer,The Guardian and the Telegraph---three top English papers.'Look...!?'
To the editor's horror,all three had prominently displayed pocket cartoons on their front page! But,they have stopped using large political cartoons.Lookl?'
All three had six column big political cartoons on the Op-ed page!
'So what?', the editor said,'May be it's not dead in England, but,I am absolutely sure that Political cartooning is dead in India,and I have proof---look,there is no cartoon in our newspaper! 'he said triumphantly.
Let me assure you cartooning is not dead in England or America or France or Germany.And It won't be dead in India as well.For,so long as there will be a Laĺoo,or a Jayalalitha or a Mulayam Singh or a A Prakash Karat or a Sonia or an Advani ....there will be an RK Lakshman or a Sudhir Tailang or an Unny.The cartoon is one of the weapons that newspapers have as an anti dote to TVs flickering images like the Twenty 20 cricket! You have to spend a few seconds to enjoy it! For the moment Rakhi Sawant has replaced the cartoon from front -page, but people will soon get bored.
If we have survived as a civilization for thousands of because of our sense of humour!And we will...only if we do not lose it!
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| World of Sudhir Tailang |
A country can never have enough cartoonists.There is always a dearth of them.Professional cartoonists are the rarest of Professional breeds.They always seem to be an endangered species becoming almost extinct at certain times, but then miraculously surviving and increasing their numbers.This was the case in the united states where in the fifties and sixties the field was dominated by two veteran cartoonists, Herblock and Mauldin,with no young newcomers in sight. But then they began to mushroom all over the place.This was largely because of the radicalization that took plaçe in the universities during the traumatic Vietnam war.
Good cartoons come out of deep feelings and commitment not to a political party nor necessarily to an ideology but to a set of principles that are genuinely one's own.
Indian cartoonists on the whole in the last three or four decades have not,one regrets to say,expended much thought or emotion on some of the great events of our time- the decolonization of Africa, The Vietnam war,the issues of war and peace, nuclear bomb and disarmament. They have been concerned in recent years mainly with parochial issues,those that have concerned the common man, issues of hunger,rising prices,corruption and,ofcourse, the antics of some of our politicians whose true vocation should have been in the theatre or circus.Have our Cartoonists shown enough concern for the menace of communalism and caste,of dowry and the grotesque killings of brides?One wonders.
There is no doubt that there is much in Indian life that is material for savage satire,but the challenge has not been met. The role of Cartoonists,as has been assigned by editors and proprietors alike is to amuse readers,to produce a little smile on their faces. This helps circulation rise,keeps bussiness houses content and the blood pressure of influential citizens at a reasonable level.
The inhibition that affect this much loved and admired profession are many.There are editors who think that a Cartoonist- especially if he is young - has no right to contradict the editorial opinions of the paper.There are proprietors who count the number of cartoons and illustrations produced each months to see if output justifies the mean salary he is paying his artist.whereas ordinary readers of newspapers are always asking the Cartoonist 'how do you manage to produce a cartoon every day?,the proprietor who pays is asking,' why can't you produce two cartoons a day,like so-and so?'
Overwork has become the bane of Indian Cartoonists.The daily routine leaves them little time to read,think or sketch from life.The talent of a young artist quickly becomes modified.
This is what I worry about when I see the work of young, promising Cartoonists in our newspapers and journals.Are they able to give their best in the conditions in which they are working? Is their work getting better or worse? Are their minds being stimulated or worn out?
Sudhir Tailang is one of the most gifted among the new generation of Cartoonists of India.He could perhaps have been called a child prodigy have had his first cartoon published in 1970 when he was only ten years old.His output has been prodigious, anyway. After taking a degree in Science from Bikaner,his home town,he joined the Times of India group in 1982 as an apprentice and in 1983 became a staff Cartoonist of the Navbharat Times.He has drawn for almost every publication of the group,his drawing ranging from political to social and purely comic to serious portrait caricature.At 26,(in 1986) he is well set to establish himself within the next few years as one of the leaders of the profession in India.
His cartoons show political and social awareness (Incidentally, he collected a few thousand rupees for victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy by drawing various Delhi localities). He has never allowed his work to fall into a fixed groove either in the manner of drawing or in the ideas.Always experimenting,always trying new forms and techniques and themes,he has maintained the Sharpness of his mind and his skill.I know that he is also modest,a quality rare in artists but essential for development.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Sudhir Tailang!
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| FORTY MINUTES WITH THE PRIME MINISTER BY SUDHIR TAILANG |
I have drawn Primeminister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in hundreds of cartoons,and I must admit that he's never been a great delight to caricature! But after a 40-minute meeting recently,I discovered some conspicuous changes in him,spin-offs of power,perhaps for the benifit of my fellow tribemen!
He's put on some weight- thoùgh it's doubtful if he ever got a chance to throw it around-in the presence of his erstwhile ally Jayalalitha! His nose has become more pronounced.His hair has turned more curly at the centre of the forehead,so that the satirist can comb it gently with his brush.The lips have turned interestingly sketch worthy (lip service is as crucial to the cartoonist as it's to the Politician),though not in the same exalted category of the famous Narasimha Rao pout!
It's always a challenge when a new prime minister takes over.One studies the nose ,the eyes,the lips,the ears...!It's a tough (ruthless) job dissecting the leader with brush!
Vajpayee was no stranger to cartoons!During his brief tenure of 13days,he was very kind to us.His Government ruled the three-coloumn frame on the front pages of newspapers with great aplomb!
Even a newcomer like Devegowda proved to be a first-rate PM-for the cartoonist! With a bold,bald pate,and a bulbous nose,he literally slept away his premiership!
Sketching a politician from close quarters is the best way to get the essence of the man.The flat two-dimensional images of photographes can be misleading There's a third dimension to every politician!
Vajpayee sits coolly in his huge drawing room- as if ready to be drawn! He has an eternal one-and a half smile.He's calm and composed,at peace with himself.It seems he's enjoying his caretaker status! Relief is writ large on his face-perhaps a reflection of his attaining freedom from the lady of Poes Garden!
Soon he's in his element! He talks about everything under the sun and,ofcourse, also about those under a cloud,!
He is his trueself when he bursts into his trademark toothless laughter.It's quite a task to capture those moments on the sketch pad.But he's kind enough to laugh so many times that I can brush up each drawing of his guffawing face!
Like a cinematographer,I put an imaginary track around him!
I Plan my sketches from every conceivable angle:left,right,front,back,top.....close-up,mid-shot...!
He poses like a professional model.(He loves cartoons!)I assure him that I won't spare him in the run up to the polls!He laughs aloud.
He asks me where I get the inspiration for my daily cartoons from
"From You MR Prime Minister!",I tell him.He brust into laughter again.
(See othervsketches on page 12)
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| Tribute to Sudhir Tailang - Part 2 | |
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| Tribute to Sudhir Tailang - Part 1 | |
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| Cartoonist Sudhir Tailang |
Indian Express has reminiscined Sudhir ji's retrospective document 'Three decades of Indian democracy' in a memoir of his works.
Seldom does one find a prime minister at an exhibition and rarely ever do heads of state, three decades old, stand in a row to greet visitors. But at Sudhir Tailang’s retrospective, “Here and Now: Rajiv to Modi” at Visual Arts Gallery last week, cut-outs of Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Behari Vajpayee, PV Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh and PM Narendra Modi stood testimony to the cartoonist’s sardonic ouvre. These large standees have now moved to Art Alive gallery, where the exhibition spans the tenures of nine prime ministers.
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| India @ 75: Bal Thackeray to RK Laxman - India's 7 best cartoonists |
Asianet Newsable has written a tributive commentary on India's 7 best cartoonists at the occasion of 75.
We've all seen cartoons, whether in magazines, newspapers, web graphics, or comic books, and the truth is that they give us comic relief after a hard day. Today, we look at some of the aces of the Indian cartoon industry who, despite their passing, have left a treasure trove of legacies that will be permanently imprinted in history.
Bal Thackeray
Balasaheb Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena party and was a prominent figure in Indian politics. Besides being a politician, Balasaheb was also a talented cartoonist. Balasaheb's cartoons are still popular today. He played a crucial role in the United Marathi movement to unite all the Marathi people in Maharashtra. He began commenting on societal issues as an artist and cartoonist. He also made profound comments on the most pressing problems in his cartoons. His drawings were quite famous at the time, thanks to discrepancies in events, a profound study of cartoons, and his exceptional creativity. To express himself via cartoons, he launched the weekly 'Marmik.'
R. K. Laxman:
The late cartoonist RK Laxman was famous for his character The Common Man and his daily comic strip 'You Said It' in The Times of India, which he began in 1951. RK Laxman started his career as a freelance cartoonist, usually for local newspapers and publications. He drew his older brother RK Narayan's tales in The Hindu as a college student. RK Laxman was honored with prestigious awards like Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Ramon Magsaysay Award.
Sudhir Tailang:
Sudhir Tailang made political cartoons of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, PV Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh, and Narendra Modi. Sudhir Tailang's cartoons have consistently depicted the plight of the average man. Sudhir understood the average guy's demands, concerns, and point of view. In 2004 he was awarded Padma Shri in Literature & Education. He passed away on February, 06, 2016 from brain cancer.
Mario Miranda:
When you think about Goa, a cartoon picture of a Goan guy singing merrily with a guitar under a coconut tree comes to mind. Mario Miranda, a cartoonist, created this image. Through his cartoons, he portrayed the Goan way of life. Surprisingly, he was not a native of Goa. Daman is where he was born. He had a special affection for Goa because his father was from there. The newspaper cartoons he made were popular among readers. He received the 'Padma Shri' and 'Padma Bhushan' awards for his essential work.
Shankar Pillai:
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.
Abu Abraham:
In 1975, India declared a state of emergency. During this time, all of the citizens' basic rights were removed. Several politicians were imprisoned. Press freedom was curtailed. Despite the prohibition on everything, some cartoonists continued to work. Abu Abraham was one of these cartoonists. Through his cartoons, Abu Abraham opposed Indira Gandhi and her dictatorship. Even today, his drawings help others understand what an emergency is.
Satish Acharya:
Satish Acharya, a self-taught artist, was featured on United Sketches as an Indian professional cartoonist. Acharya was named one of Forbes India's "24 Intellectuals" in 2015. Acharya's cartoon on the Charlie Hebdo Massacre was regarded as one of the most potent cartoons on the tragedy by the foreign media. His cartoon was published in newspapers including The Wall Street Journal, The Times and The Guardian.
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| Tribute to Sudhir ji by fellow journalist Rajnish Manga |
Fellow journalist Rajnish Manga has expressed his regard for Sudhir ji in this beautiful poem.
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