Drawing Out His Best

WHEN Indian political cartoonists are discussed, Sudhir Dar's name usually figures inthe list of the first half-dozen. Expectedly so. For over two decades Dar worked as thepolitical staff cartoonist of Hindustan Times, the largest-selling newspaper in northIndia.

It may sound strange, but I have always considered Dar to be a victim of Indianmedia's prevalent system. Till recently, media in India was heavily political. A suresign of an underdeveloped society. The most important slots in Indian newspapers werereserved for dull, pompous, boring journalists pontificating on dull, pompous, boringsubjects. This killed natural talent in the profession. For instance, to keep up with theJoneses, a genius among crime reporters would cheerfully become a mediocre specialcorrespondent dealing with handouts from government departments. That would be the onlyway he could increase his salary.

Dar was never by inclination a political cartoonist. He is not a political animal. Hisattitude to politics is somewhat akin to what I imagine would have been the attitude ofBertie Wooster. Dar's forte was humour. Pure humour of the zany kind. His drawingstyle suited that genre. Earlier he used clean lines without too much black, withoutshading. Dar is a self-taught draughtsman without the visible influence of any otherartist. Unlike an icon like Laxman, or even Thackeray, neither of whom I imagine woulddeny the profound influence David Low's work exerted on them.

For his first three years as a newspaper cartoonist, Dar drew only cartoons withoutcaptions. He focused on humour, not topical comment. The comment, when it surfaced, wasincidental. This was possible because he worked for The Statesman, edited then by EvanCharlton, who himself was not the typical Indian editor. His interest in politics wasmarginal. He encouraged human interest features, travelogues and writings on nature. Onlyin a newspaper like The Statesman of those days could Dar's zany humour, usuallyunrelated to current news, have flourished.

But Dar had to get on in the profession. So he switched to HT when a vacancy for apolitical cartoonist arose. Mulgaokar, who edited HT those days, was the antithesis ofCharlton. A political ideologue, Mulgaokar was carrying on his paper'spre-independence tradition of being the most important media voice in Indian politics.

Dar had to get into the conventional mould of an Indian political cartoonist. For twodecades he acquitted himself with competence. But his real potential was never realised.Had he pursued his natural inclination for pure humour and captionless cartoons, he mighthave developed into an icon like the cartoonists of Punch and The New Yorker. Politicalcartooning even took a toll on his drawing style. He resorted to shading, making his stylemore conventional to fit in with the rest. He should have taken a leaf from Abu whopainstakingly evolved his deceptively simple, childlike style. Abu's drawing became atalking point in Fleet Street in the Sixties. The feathery touch of Dar's earlierstyle survived only in some of his Page One pocket cartoons. Fortunately, there was nodearth
of those.

It is ironical that when Indian newspapers are diversifying themselves to get away frompolitics—and not always with happy results—to create a natural space for socialcartoons, Dar has retired. Another wonderful cartoonist, Mario Miranda, had to get intothe current affairs straitjacket to find space as a pocket cartoonist in the daily press.A pity the Indian press never allowed a cartoonist like Giles of The Daily Express todevelop in India. Like Mario, Giles was a wonderful artist. But he got a six-column spreaddoing only social cartoons to become Britain's highest-paid cartoonist.

Old hands often complain that political cartoonists in India today are not likeShankar, Kutty or Laxman in their heydays. The truth is we have as fine a bunch ofpolitical cartoonists as ever. Ravi Shankar, Unny, Sudhir Tailang, Keshav, Ajit Ninan andthe rest can hold their own with cartoonists of any generation. The problem they face isnot of their making. Politics itself has become so trivial as to render improbablecartoons that are memorable.

Dar's fifth such book, The Best of Sudhir Dar, reproduces only his pocketcartoons. For fans of cartoons it's essential addition to their memorabilia. For airtravellers it is an ideal companion.