Cartoonist Sukumar, who used his humour equally well on the paper and on the stage, passed away in Kochi on Saturday. He was 91.
One of the earliest figures in a long lineage of Malayalis making their mark in the world of cartoons, he has been known for his political cartoons filled with sharp critiques of the major leaders during his heydays. As someone who also spread laughter from stages across the State, one of the most memorable events in his life was the 12-hour laughter yajna that he led in 2012, which entered the Guinness Book of Records.
Born in 1932 at Attingal in the capital, Sukumar did not have any formal training in cartooning. His interest in cartoons was kindled by constantly following the political cartoons of K.S. Pillai, who used to draw cartoons both in Desabandhu and Malayala Manorama. His first cartoon appeared in a magazine when he was just 18 years old. After higher studies at University College here, he joined the Police department in 1957. He served in the department for three decades and retired as an administrative assistant.
For close to seven decades, he continued to use his wit and drawing skills to create cartoons for numerous publications. In one of his interviews, he had recounted that former Chief Ministers E.K.Nayanar and K.Karunakaran were the leaders whom he loved to draw the most. He has written close to 60 books, a majority of which were related to cartoons. He has also penned plays, poems and stories. One of his everlasting contributions will be the role he played in the founding of the Kerala Cartoon Academy as well as Narma Kairali, which became a platform for upcoming humourists. He won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1996.
He was interested in the history of cartooning in Kerala and spent two years digging out old cartoons for his book on the subject. At a function in the capital a few years back, he said that he found the first cartoon ever published in the State from a worn-out copy of the first issue of the magazine Vidooshakan published in October 1919. It was titled Maha kshama devatha and touched upon the drought situation, he had said. After spending much of his life in the capital, he shifted to Kochi in 2019, but remained active in the public sphere almost till the end.
Condoling his passing, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that Sukumar will be remembered for his witty criticism without a touch of malice.
