DNA cartoonist Manjul wins Maya Kamath award for excellence

DNA cartoonist Manjul has won the first prize at the Maya Kamath Memorial Awards for Excellence in Cartooning 2009.

The awards have been instituted in honour of India’s only woman political cartoonist who worked for The Times of India and The Asian Age. Maya Kamath died in 2001 at the age of 50.

The competition, now in its second year, was organised by the Indian Institute of Cartoonists and judged by renowned playwright and Jnanpith Award-winning playwright Girish Karnad, noted artist SG Vasudev, and cartoonist Keshav.

There were a total of 148 entries from all over India, and one from Pakistan, 120 for the political cartooning contest and 26 for the award of best budding cartoonist.

Manjul won a cash prize of Rs25,000. The second prize, worth Rs15,000, was awarded to Mohammad Zahoor of the Daily Times, Peshawar. The third prize went to Prashant Kulkarni of Loksatta, Mumbai, while Rebecca Tailor, from Bangalore, bagged the accolade of 'best budding cartoonist' and a cash award of Rs10,000.

Karnad later told DNA he was impressed with this year's collection. He said a single word, panache, best described the winning cartoon.

"The idea of depicting Bal Thackeray as a tiger whose stripes are falling off, almost like a belt, was marvellous," he said. "I also liked the emphasis on machoism by the depiction of the moustache in the cartoon that won second prize."

Karnad said the first thing he looks at when he sees a cartoon is the line drawing. "Style and visual representation are very important."

These days, the actor-director said, there are "a lot of good caricaturists, but not cartoonists. There is lack of a good sense of humour. One has to understand that it is not only about bringing out the situation, but bringing forward the personality. There has to be sharp political comment."

On the other hand, he agreed, the field has seen a lot of changes over time. For instance, Sandeep Adhwaryu, last year's winner, introduced coloured cartoons to the competition.

"This field is witnessing progress slowly," Karnad said. "It is at a much better place than what it was in the time of Bal Thackeray. He was a dreadful cartoonist!"

Manjul, when asked where he gets his ideas from, said, "If my editors gave me the opportunity, I would make more than five cartoons a day! There is no dearth of ideas. I just keep my eyes open.

"The creative process in on all the time. Sometimes my family feels I'm ignoring them because I'm so lost in thought.

"The first thing that strikes me when I come across an interesting piece of news is my take on the issue. But people may not always agree with me, as in the case of section 377, where most religious groups opposed what I was in favour of."

But cartooning is serious business. "Not everyone can take a joke," Manjul said, citing a bad experience he had had in one of his earlier jobs. "I had made a cartoon on Kalyan Singh after the Babri Masjid demolition, which did not go down well with the BJP. They threatened me and burnt copies of my newspaper."

Manjul also faced pressure from a state government when he was working in the state capital. Unwilling to accept curbs on his creative freedom, he left the job and moved to New Delhi following incessant pressure from a political party and his editor.

Manjul was a student of science in junior college. Thereafter he completed his BA in economics and political science. Though he never had any formal training in art, he said he always wanted to be a cartoonist. Science, he said, helped to sharpen his mind and increase his analytical abilities.

The cartoonist loves satire and enjoys the work of Indian writers Harishankar Parsai, Sharad Joshi, Shrilal Shukla, and Laxmikant Vaishnav. Anton Chekov and Mark Twain are among his favourite foreign writers.

Speaking of cartooning today, Manjul said there is no lack of talent but of competent editors. "Creativity is not being given the impetus it needs," he said. "But I have been lucky in that regard. In the 20 years that I have worked in this field, I was fortunate to have had people like Rajni Gupta, Prabhu Chawla, Jaideep Bose, Rahul  Joshi and Gautam Adhikari, who encouraged and nurtured me. DNA's proprietors have given me great creative freedom and I am very happy with the work I am doing here."

Manjul said a cartoonist's life is best summed up in the words of famous cartoonist Abu Abraham: a cartoonist is a liar who always speaks the truth.

The Maya Kamath Memorial Awards ceremony will be held in Bangalore on June 18. Certificates will be given to the winners along with the prize money. An exhibition of  the award-winning and selected entries will also be organised.