T. R. Mahalingam, pen-name Mali was a pioneering illustrator and cartoonist from Tamil Nadu, India, in the pre-independence era. He was the Tamil Presss first caricaturist, according to Chennai historian S. Muthiah in The Hindu. . Mali published his drawings in the Indian Express in the 1930s, and first made his name at the Free Press Journal before being immortalized in the pages of Ananda Vikatan, the first popular Tamil periodical. He also did cartoons for the Vikatan groups English-language Merry Magazine, where he became the editor in 1935. He is said to have left the editorial nitty-gritty to his assistant editor, while continuing to illustrate such humorous serials as Private Joyful in Madras (The magazine shut down in c. 1935 or 1936). While it was the legendary writer and poet Subramanya Bharathi who first introduced cartoons to Tamil journalism, it was Ananda Vikatan that made them truly popular. As cartoonist and senior artist at Ananda Vikatan, Mali was thus a key influence on a second generation of cartoonists. Gopulu and Silpi were illustrators he mentored at Vikatan. According to Tamil film historian Randor Guy, Mali designed the famous logo for Gemini Studios, which depicts cherubic twin buglers.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 06:35:26 +0000
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