Putting A Comic Spin on Things- An Interview with Sudhir Tailang

Putting A Comic Spin on Things- An Interview with Sudhir Tailang by Deepa Rajan

Sudhir Tailang

(NICE INTERVIEW.MUST READ LATEST ONE IN 'CREATIVE GAGA MAGAZINE',HIS VIEWS ON EVERYTHING.HE IS MAKING CARTOON PROFESSIONALLY SINCE 1982(MUMBAI-ILLUSRATED WEEKLY,TOI GROUP,...THEN DELHI-NAVBHARAT TIMES,..HT,INDIAN EXPRESS,AGAIN HT,AND NOW THE ASIAN AGE AND DECCAN CHRONICAL...WAS BEGAN AS A CHILD PRODIGY,HIS CARTOONS STARTED PUBLISHING IN NATIONAL NEWSPAPER(HINDUSTAAN) AS A AMETUER CARTOONIST AT THE AGE OF 10...THOUGH HE NEVER TOOK ANY PROFESSIONAL TRAINING IN ART OR JOURNALISM BUT IS A FOREMOST CARTOONIST...OF OUR COUNTY!!!

....AND FAIRLY PRAISED BY OTHER COUNTRY'S READERS ALSO...AS HIS FOLLOWERS SHOWS!!!

....ONE CAN ASSESS PERIODICAL FRAME OF DIFFERENT DECADE OF OUR POLITICAL/SOCIO/ECONOMIC/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL....AND ALL THE OTHER ASPECT OF SOCIETY BY READING HIS CARTOONS FROM ARCHIEVE,...SMILE,LAUGH,PONDER,THINK,FEEL ANGRY,FRUSTRATED...OR FIND HOPE AND INDICATION OR SUGGESTIONS OF SOLUTIONS.

HIS CARTOONS ARE TOTALLY PRAISEWORTHY AND THOUGHT PROVOKING,SUTTLE,WORTHY,WETHER "YOU AGREE" WITH IT "ALWAYS" OR NOT!!!

..IT REFLECTS "MAHABHARATA" OR "RAMAYANA" OR WHATEVER "UPMA" ONE GIVE OF DIFFERENT YEARS....OF OUR POLITICS AND RELATED NEWS AND ISSUES DIPICTED IN IT.

A "FESTIVITY OF NEWS" AND "ALBUM" OF PERIODS...HAS BEEN CARRIED IN IT.

I AM-(WE ALL ARE) PROUD OF HIM AND HIS WORK...AND WISH HIM GREAT FUTURE AHEAD.HE AND HIS INSAANIYAAT IN HIM MAKES HIM A VERY GOOD HUMAN BEING!!!

GAANDHIJI HAD ONCE SAID "MEIN TOO SAADHAARAN INSAAN HOON-I AM A MEDIOCRE MAN!!...THAT WAS HIS GREATNESS--EK SAADHRAAN INSAAN KI AASAADHAARAN KAHAANI"!!!

....WE'LL DO GET INSPIRE BY HIM.

I FIND THAT HUMBLENESS IN SUDHIRJI AS WELL!!!

....THOUGH HE HAS TO LIVE LONG AND STILL MILES TO GO!!!

...I'LL WALK SIDE BY SIDE!!!"....VIBHA TAILANG"!!

A picture may be worth a thousand words but this would be a major understatement as far as the political cartoon is concerned. Through its many layers of art, symbols and metaphors, political cartoons offer sharp commentary and critique on the issues of the day. Political cartoonists, while aiming for the funny bone, entertain their readers with a raw representation of the truth, mocking the absurdities of political leaders, laws and social norms.

Accomplished cartoonists such as Sudhir Tailang have a way of viewing normal, mundane incidents in a completely different light. Tailang’s book ‘No, Prime Minister’ is a compilation of 150 cartoons on Dr Manmohan Singh, which takes you down the last five years of Indian politics like a synoptic history lesson that for a change is completely arresting as opposed to boring. Tailang, who has been a cartoonist for close to 30 years first made a mark with his daily "Here and Now" cartoons in the Hindustan Times in the 1980s. He began his career with the Illustrated Weekly of India and now draws a daily caricature for the edit page of the Asian Age - under the "Here and Now" label.


1.Being a cartoonist is a tremendously offbeat career path, especially in our country where medicine and engineering are given such importance. What was your inspiration in the early days?

Like any other child, I was very interested in drawing and comics. I believe that every child is born to do something. If everybody else is born to be a doctor, an engineer or nowadays an MBA student, then I feel one in a million is also born to be a cartoonist. I was one of them. Continuously in my student life, my cartoons were published in newspapers and magazines of repute, which while being a good source of pocket money, boosted my confidence as well. No one particular person was as such my inspiration- I would rather say that Phantom, Mandrake and Flash Gordon made me aspire to be a cartoonist.

2.In order to present your thoughts on political matters through the means of your cartoon strips, are you required to follow the news aggressively to identify the issues of relevance?

Yes, absolutely. A political cartoonist, unlike a reporter or a correspondent, doesn’t have a beat. A cartoonist has to comment on issues as diverse as a man landing on the moon, Pakistan-India relations, American elections- basically covering areas like sports, entertainment, politics because anything of interest to the readers is of interest to a cartoonist. I watch television throughout the day and read about 10 newspapers daily in order to stay abreast of all that is happening in the world. It’s quite difficult and taxing, but I believe that if you enjoy something, then the hard work that goes into it is just a form of riyaaz.

3.To what extent do the people that you lampoon appreciate your efforts and talent?

I find that most politicians like their cartoons. I remember this one incident- the HRD minister at the time was Dr Murli Manhoar Joshi, and his secretary called me one day and said “The minister is very angry with you; you must call him at once.” Later when I called Dr Joshi and asked him the reason he said to me “I am very upset with you- you haven’t made any cartoon on me for the last two months!” There are many others who call me up, and tell me that they like that morning’s cartoon on them- Advani, Madhavrao Scindia, Rajesh Pilot have all appreciated my efforts. Many of them even ask for copies to frame as keepsakes, like MS Gill and Mr Vajpayee. Mr Vajpayee in fact even invited me to meet him at his home when he was PM, and I made a feature on him based on my observations during that visit.

4.What is the process involved in making your cartoons? Are you given a daily brief on the subject matter or is it your personal choice? Moreover, do you have to conform to the paper’s editorial stances?

I keep tabs on all the news throughout the day, and formulate and complete the strip by about 7pm. One cartoon takes about 10 hours every day. The subject and content is of my choice, as it is a one man’s view of the world, so nobody can tell me what to draw. I try not to conform to any editorial stance, and I have to fight very hard for that. Sometimes I have even lost jobs over this issue. The first 20 years of my career I had a completely free hand and nobody told me what to draw and what not to draw. It is the last 10 years where there have been pressures, both direct and indirect. Death of opinion is the news of the last few years. But no matter what, you just continue to fight.

5.What are the essentials that must be kept in mind to excel at the art of making political cartoons?

A political cartoonist is essentially a political commentator- like an editorial writer; cartoonists have a point of view. And the real challenge is to present his/her commentary in a humorous way. Another important thing is that it is necessary that the cartoonist have a stand and a sound opinion. A cartoonist also needs to be good at drawing- he/she need not be a Leonardo Da Vinci but a cartoonist should have a particular style of his/her own that differentiates them. This can only be developed over years of practice. Most importantly a cartoon is 70 percent ideas and just 30 per cent art work. Drawing, thinking, and reading- they’re very important. It’s a combination of many talents.

6.With a steady lack of youth in your field, do you feel that it might be a dying art- so much so that one day newspapers will cease to carry any cartoons?

I am sure that day will come very soon, but not because people don’t want to be cartoonists. Newspapers these past 15 years don’t want cartoonists. Scope for political cartoonists has decreased and opinionated political cartoons are now being replaced by graphic design. With the coming of TV, newspapers have been trivialized. Secondly there has been a complete commercialization of newspapers wherein newspapers have become a consumer product instead of a living creature. Newspapers in the last decade have been co-opted by the establishment. The prime focus is on making money and not to annoy anyone, and so they do not question any of the politicians- they prefer to eulogize and praise, particularly the more powerful politicians. From the surface it may look like democracy, but the freedom of expression today you see is a controlled freedom.

7.Can you tell us any unusual incidents that have been particularly memorable over the course of your career?

As a cartoonist I have come across many interesting people. I’ve had death threats, and have even been forced to have body guards for a short while. Amongst many incidents, I remember one that was very touching. A Mr. Batra used to call me every day from Haryana, and tell me that that day’s cartoon was wonderful and so on. After a few years, I discovered that he was in fact blind, and his son used to read out my cartoon to him upon which he would then call me up.

8.As a cartoonist, you pay a great deal of attention to detail, faces and mannerisms. Can you tell us some of the most identifiable features that you focus on while drawing different politicians?

In Manmohan Singh and Advani’s case i exaggerate their foreheads, making them much longer. I also focus on Mr Advani’s shy eyes, bushy eyebrows and toothbrush moustache. Mr Vajpayee’s most discerning features are his nose, the front lock of his hair and his toothless smile. They say, behind every man’s success there lies a woman, but I can say there are many women behind the success of a cartoonist like me such as Mayawati, Jayalalithaa, Mamata Banerjee, Sonia Gandhi etc. Ms Mayawati, I prefer to draw as a statue, with her hand bag as her biggest feature. Laloo Prasad Yadav is difficult to draw because you see, one cannot caricature a caricature. But my favourite politician to draw was PV Narasimha Rao, because of his pout, his nostrils and his stoic manner.

Posted by e-Spectrum at 6:21 AM