Kerala art akademi to exhibit Laxman's cartoons

Text: TOI

The uncommon man is no more. And with his passing the curtain comes down on an era of humour that was one of a kind--playful and ironic, astute yet childlike, razor-sharp but malice-free. In a nutshell, vintage R K Laxman.

R K Laxman was known as The Times of India's `CCTV'-Complete Cartoonist Total Value for the sheer versatility of his medium.

In his illustrious career, Laxman got to know the nation's and world's top personalities intimately. He brought out the doublespeak of political leaders, stripped away their masks and dismantled big egos.

His greatest gift, of course, was the Common Man, that eternally bewildered symbol of millions of Indians, who looked on mutely as political charlatans and criminals took the country for a ride.

Let us take a look at some choicest cartoons from R K Laxman's vintage box...

Laxman sent a congratulatory message to India's Mars Mission team and its project director, S Arunan, in December 2014

Bal Thackeray softened his strident anti-Muslim stand just before the 1995 Assembly elections in Maharashtra. Political expediency turned the Shiv Sena's snarling tiger logo into a purring kitten.

In 1986, Rajiv Gandhi, with one eye on the fundamentalist Muslim vote, overturned a Supreme Court judgement that had granted a monthly maintenance to elderly Muslim widow Shah Bano. The move was one of the major triggers for the rise of the BJP.

This 'cartoon' was drawn in 1984 on the Union Carbide Bhopal gas tragedy, which killed thousands and maimed many more. Stark and unleavened by humour, it was an unusual one for Laxman.

The New Economic Policy authored by Manmohan Singh and Narasimha Rao in 1991 took India away from its decades-long socialistic policies. It was roundly criticised as a capitulation to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.