CHEWING ON BLACK HUMOUR : PRASHANT - TopicsExpress

CHEWING ON BLACK HUMOUR : PRASHANT JHA thehindu/news/cities/Delhi/chewing-on-black-humour/article4822366.ece > When the veteran journalist, Vinod Mehta, last edited a daily newspaper, he used to be delighted when he got a good political cartoon. He often put it right in the middle of the front page, surrounded by stories. “It made my day. A dramatic cartoon lifts the page, for it can capture the news scope in visuals what a thousand words cannot do.” > E P Unny, the chief political cartoonist of the Indian Express Group, is widely acknowledged as the last of the ‘Greats’ of the cartooning tradition. He has an explanation for the trend, Mehta indicates. “Cartoons used to be the only visual commentary 20 years ago. You could not deprive a reader of it. But with television, internet, fast-moving images and other sources of news, cartoon is only one visual component competing for attention.” This could be one reason, he feels, why it may appear like cartoons have lesser importance. > But this has not deterred a new generation of cartoonists from producing good work. Mail Today’s R Prasad’s cartoons get widely circulated for their political insight, humour and irony. Prasad says cartooning is a ’24 hour job’, since one has to constantly think of the next idea as soon as a cartoon is done. “I read 5-6 papers, and watch TV news for breaking news and events. If you have a wide reading base, it gives you more options and find parallels in history, mythology and other disciplines.” Once he has hit on the theme, it takes Prasad 10 minutes or so to draw it up. > It is not easy for young people to break in. Thirty-one year old Sajith Kumar at the Financial Chronicle learnt the craft on his own, and like R Prasad, joined the profession first as an illustrator. “The openings are so few. At most, a paper has one full-time cartoonist. So the only way to enter is by first illustrating other people’s texts and ideas.” When Kumar was joining the profession, he was told cartooning is a ‘dying art’. But things have changed in the past few years. “Social media is transformative. Now, it is easy to project one’s work. It is seen widely, and that gives us a boost.” Interestingly, the popularity of cartoons on Twitter, blogs, Facebook and other new media platforms reflects a demand for satire. Many cartoons often go viral online. This, Kumar feels, is forcing newspapers to revamp their cartoon sections and give it the importance it deserves.