Tooning into the past ( indian express )

Tooning into the past
BANGALORE: With no offence to the politicos, there are very few people who are inspired by the often-corrupt leaders. One group among them are the caricaturists and cartoonists.

City-based cartoonist Gireesh Vengara’s works have also found their muse in the world of netas and their netagiri. Also a creative consultant and painter, he is known to be a ‘sulk-er’ who is generally annoyed with everything that’s wrong with the world. He creatively vents his disappointment with the First Estate through his illustrations. He has compiled some of his best political cartoons published in various publications since 2003 under the title ‘Strokes and Slashes’.

An exhibition of his work is currently on at the Indian Cartoon Gallery till May 9. ‘Strokes and Slashes’ revives the political scenario of the recent past. The characters and situations in his work are stale, but that they are exhibited now -- during elections — make them appealing.

The works are a satirical take on the prominent leaders, parties and issues of the said period. Debatable issues like the foreign origin of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Karnataka- Tamil Nadu row over Cauvery water, curbing of freedom of press in Tamil Nadu and more are the subjects. There are also works that mock at the ‘India Shining’ campaign, the fiasco brought on by the rising number of opposition parties and allies, saffronisation in political agenda and the never ending duel between Congress and BJP. One cartoon exemplifying the last-mentioned issue has BJP leader LK Advani saying ‘Ayodhya not a poll issue’ and Sonia Gandhi voicing out ‘foreign origin not a big issue’.

Poonam Biswakarma