What8217;s so comic?

The prime reason lies in economics. Newspapers get foreign cartoon strips from international syndicates for a song. Cult-strips like Bill Watterson8217;s Calvin and Hobbes and Charles M Schulz8217;s Peanuts come for as little as Rs 40 to Rs 50 per day. Therefore, newspapers don8217;t even consider patronising local cartoonists. As an editor of The Times of India said, quot;There is a blanket ban on Indian comic strips in every English daily worth its salt.quot; His harsh sentiments are echoed by another editor of a leading national paper. He says, quot;In the era of liberalisation, you can8217;t expect Indians to continue subsidising Indians.quot;

And he has a point. Compared to the slicker European and American strips, homegrown cartoons have a bargain-basement image. But the cartooning fraternity protests that it is more due to a lack of encouragement than want of talent. Says A S Sabu, cartoonist with The Indian Express, quot;Here the talent manifests itself later in the day, not in the beginning of one8217;s career. Peanuts, when it first came out, wasn8217;t so good. The characters develop as the artist matures.quot;

Also most editors tend to use R K Laxman as a yardstick of proficiency, talent and social wit, which most cartoonists feel is unfair to the newer kids on the block. But to achieve his measure of fame, most Indian cartoonists restrict their work to political cartoons. Says veteran cartoonist, D K Kadam, who was with Navbharat Times for over 30 years, quot;The editorial of all newspapers is restricted to politics. So naturally cartoons are dictated by that. No pocket cartoons or strips speak of the Indian social milieu.quot; The economics are equally bleak for cartoonists. Even if they were paid as much as a foreign strip per day, they would clear just about Rs 1,500 per month.

The answer to this problem is syndicates. Among the better known are Amrita Bharati, Indian Features Syndicate, Rangrekha Features and Shabd Syndicate. Though they are able to get leverage better bargains for artists in their pool they too come up against competition from foreign syndicates. The only section really open to them are the children8217;s pages and this becomes the mainstay of most syndicates. But they try their best. Says Subba Rao, CEO, Amrita Bharti, quot;We also encourage artists to develop strips. If we have a theme for a strip, we pay upto Rs 100 per idea on that theme, which is the highest.quot;

Till recently, there was no forum where Indian cartoonists could gather and discuss their problems. Now the Federation of European Cartoonists Organisations is opening a chapter in India. Also, says Suresh Sawant, who is the Indian editor of the US-based magazine, Witty World 8212; a German political magazine, EPD 8212; is having a spotlight on Indian cartoons soon. Though there hasn8217;t been much change in attitude towards Indian cartoons, there is some sort of movement going on at the grassroot level. Comic strip cartoonists are thriving in vernacular papers, specially in Kerala which has a rich tradition of humour and satire. In fact, Shankar Pillai, a known cartoonist started a magazine called Shankar8217;s Weekly for cartoons and humour-based articles in Kerala. It is the only magazine of its kind in the country and the state is reputed to have more cartoonists per square kilometre than the whole country put together.

In Maharashtra too, local cartoon strips are really popular. Mostly due to support from Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena chief, who himself was once a cartoonist with the Free Press Journal. And vernacular cartoon strips have a strong fan-following too. So maybe a similar spillover to national dailies isn8217;t far away.