Happy birthday Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Iyer Laxman (born 24 October 1921) is an Indian cartoonist, illustrator, and humorist. He is best known for his creation The Common Man, for his daily cartoon strip, You Said It in The Times of India, which started in 1951. R. K. Laxman was born in Mysore. His father was a headmaster and Laxman was the youngest of six sons; an older brother is the famous novelist R. K. Narayan. Laxman was engrossed by the illustrations in magazines such as The Strand Magazine, Punch, Bystander, Wide World and Tit-Bits, even before he could read. Soon he was drawing on his own, on the floors, walls and doors of his house and doodling caricatures of his teachers at school; praised by a teacher for his drawing of a peepal leaf, he began to think of himself as an artist in the making. Another early influence on Laxman were the cartoons of the world-renowned British cartoonist, Sir David Low (whose signature he misread as cow for a long time) that appeared now and then in The Hindu. Laxman notes in his autobiography, The Tunnel of Time: “ I drew objects that caught my eye outside the window of my room – the dry twigs, leaves and lizard-like creatures crawling about, the servant chopping firewood and, of course, and number of crows in various postures on the rooftops of the buildings opposite ” Laxman was the captain of his local Rough and Tough and Jolly cricket team and his antics inspired the stories Dodu the money maker and The Regal Cricket Club written by his brother, Narayan. Laxmans idyllic childhood was shaken for a while when his father suffered a paralytic stroke and died around a year later, but the elders at home bore most of the increased responsibility, while Laxman continued with his schooling. After high school, Laxman applied to the J. J. School of Art, Bombay hoping to concentrate on his lifelong interests of drawing and painting, but the dean of the school wrote to him that his drawings lacked, the kind of talent to qualify for enrollment in our institution as a student, and refused admission. He finally graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mysore. In the meantime he continued his freelance artistic activities and contributed cartoons to Swarajya and an animated film based on the mythological character, Narada. Laxmans earliest work was for newspapers and magazines such as Swarajya and Blitz . While still at the Maharaja College of Mysore, he began to illustrate his elder brother R K Narayans stories in The Hindu, and he drew political cartoons for the local newspapers and for the Swatantra. Laxman also drew cartoons, for the Kannada humour magazine, Koravanji. Incidentally, Koravanji was founded in 1942 by Dr M Shivaram who was an allopath and had a clinic around Majestic area in Bangalore. He started this monthly magazine, dedicating it to hilarious/satirical articles and cartoons. Dr Shivaram himself was an eminent humourist in Kannada. He encouraged Laxman quite a lot. He held a summer job at the Gemini Studios, Madras. His first full-time job was as a political cartoonist for the The Free Press Journal in Mumbai, Bal Thackeray, was his colleague. Laxman later joined The Times of India, beginning a career that has spanned for over fifty years. He also created a popular mascot for the Asian Paints group called Gattu in 1954. Laxman has also penned a few novels. His cartoons have appeared in Hindi films such as Mr. & Mrs. 55 and a Tamil film Kamaraj. His creations also include the sketches drawn for the television adaptation of Malgudi Days which was written by his elder brother R K Narayan and directed by Shankar Nag. Laxman also drew caricatures of friends for private purposes. There is a chair named after R. K. Laxman at Symbiosis International University. He was first married to Bharatanatyam dancer and movie actress Kamala Laxman (also known before marriage as Baby Kamala and Kumari Kamala). After a divorce, he married again and his second wifes (a childrens book writer) name was also Kamala. He lives both in Mumbai and Pune. In a cartoon series named The star I never met in film magazine Filmfare he painted a cartoon of Kamala Laxman, with the title The star I only met!. In September 2003, Laxman was affected by a stroke which left him paralysed on his left side. He has partly recovered from its effects. On the evening of 20 June 2010, Laxman was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai after being transported by an air ambulance from Pune. His condition was said to be stable. In October 2012 Laxman celebrated his 91st birthday in Pune. During a private gathering at his residence, Laxman cut the cake and was presented a DVD of a documentary titled The Brainy Crow by his fan Rajvardhan Patil, depicting life and survival of the favourite bird of the cartoonist. Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, who had a past association with Laxman as a cartoonist, sent birthday greetings to him, family sources said. Scientist Jayant Narlikar and Symbiosis University chancellor S.B. Mujumdar also came to wish him on the occasion. Awards : Padma Vibhushan – Govt. of India Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts – 1984 Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism – CNN IBN TV18, 29 January 2008 Pune Pandit Award (Scholar of Pune Award) by the Art & Music Foundation for excellence in Creative Communication – 2012 Bibliography : He Said It The Common Man. Speaks...Wheelman Press The Eloquent Brush: A Selection of Cartoons from Nehru to Rajiv 50 Years of Independence through the eyes of R.K.Laxman The Best of Laxman series Hotel Riviera The Messenger Servants of India The Tunnel of Time (autobiography) His autobiography Lakshmanrekha is published in Marathi. The Reel World [cartoons]published by Marwah Studios Brushing Up The Years- A Cartoonists History of India- 1947 to the Present- Penguin Books Multi-media: India Through The Eyes of R. K. Laxman – Then To Now (CD-ROM). Laxman Rekhas-A TOI Publication R K Laxman Ki Duniya – A Television show on SAB TV. Source: Wikipedia karncdn.maheshcom.netdna-cdn/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/rk-laxman.jpg
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 14:26:33 +0000
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