Cartoonists/Cartoons in Andhra/Telugu - More pulusu
PALANA pAranandi lakshmI narasimham
Thanks Tata ba'v, Sri Jampala, Sri Bapa Rao, Sri Kandadai, and Sri Nasy!
Thanks for the excellent info. This is just a starting on this
subject. There is a reason why I started discussion on this topic.
I was going thorugh several books to dig out the history of
cartoon drawing and cartoonists in Andhra dESa and I could not
find anything on these aspects. I have a collection of old cartoons
which I wanted to redraw them with English captions. I could not
stop laughing at them. e.g. Two boys (10 years old) were smoking
cigarets under a tree and watching a bus passing by emitting thick
black exhaust smoke. Witnessing this, one of them was telling the
other one "cooDura'! emta daridramaina poga vadalutOmdO a' bassu.
da'nnEm cEyalEru ka'nii manalni sigareTlu ta'goddamTa'ru." That was
a good one. I could not figure out who drew it. Then I wanted to do
some work on the history of cartoon drawing in Andhra. But I wanted
to know the details about each and every artist. First of all, I
want to know who is a cartoonist. Now you all have started answering.
Please don't stop. I want the following from you (or suggest where
I can get the info.).
1) Who were the first (pioneers) of Andhra cartoons?
2) Are there any women (lady) cartoonists?
3) Are there any child (boy or girl) cartoonists?
4) Who are the political cartoonists?
Based on their cartoons can you categorize them such as:
5) Who make fun of students
6) Who make fun of women
7) Who make fun of men
8) Who draw cartoons on husbands
9) Who draw cartoons on wives
10) Who draw cartoons on Gods and Godesses
11) Who make fun of doctors (dentists; veterinarians; and human docs)
12) Who make fun of scientists
13) Who make fun of teachers:
e.g. Father (a teacher) is in a deep ba'ta'Kanii with his
next door friend. His son came there facing his dad
and showed him the slate saying :
"na'nna'! ii lekka correctO ka'dO ceppu."
It is written on the slate "nanna'! amma a' pakkimTa'yanni
pampEsi lOnaki vacci tiPin tinamamTOmdi."
14) Who make fun of cine stars
15) Who make fun of politicians
16) Who make fun of India and other nations:
When Appollo 13 reached moon, there was a cartoon in Andhra Patrika.
This simply was a globe with India and America on it.
America was shouting "Apollo" and India was shouting "appulO".
That was something.
17) Who make fun of hair styles and dresses and fashions
e.g. One time during 1970s, boys used to wear shirts with designs
like flowers, twigs, branches, leaves and all the green world.
Also they used to have bushy hair (like the one I have).
One boy was wearing a shirt with flower branch design with
birds on them and a real bird was nesting in his hair.
My dad used to bring that example whenever I used to wear
a flower design shirt.
18) Who draw cartoons on in laws (son, daughter, mother, father)
19) Who draw cartoons for all festive occassions - samkra'mti,
deepa'vaLI, uga'di, samkra'mti, hOLi etc.
This is unique in our Andhra dESa.
ta'ta' pasa'damoo! You gave some good examples like ra'gati
pamDari and appaDa'la karra etc. But who is this Ragati Pamdari.
Could you give some history or sketch on this artist. What are
these appaDa'la karra cartoons. Could you explain them a little
more. Same way, Jampala ga'roo! Who is this Satyamoorty?
What is the speciality of Dumbu? How did Bujjayi pictures
come into limelight?
I got some books (about 10 of them) written by Dr. Jandhyala
Papayya Sastry (Karunasrii) entitled "kaLa'ga'yatri" with
subtitles such as "daLitaBa'rati", "a'rshaBa'rati" etc.
Three people drew the cartoons for the stories in side and
they are Bali (ba'li), V. Kameswararao, and V.S. Prakash.
Their cartoons are excellent and they made the Karunasri's
stories more attractive. The book has the back cover
with Karunasrii's picture and a detailed biographical sketch.
But, there is no account on these cartoonists who were equally
important for the book to come in black and white. Those
cartoonists are forgotten artists. A picture is worth more
than a million words. Who drew that picture?
Tata Prasad talked about vapa' (vaDDa'di pa'payya). For a long
time people did not know who this vapa' was until someone
came out and said that he was vaDDa'di pa'payya. There is a
Siva temple on the river bank (Nagavali) in Srikakulam.
There is a Siva painting in that temple. It was painted by
vapa' (ma' vaDDa'dODu). Candamama got the glitterry look
as Vaddadi drew his pictures for the stories. Of course,
Chitra took over afterwards. Who is this Chitra? I don't
know. Neither the Candamama publishers did talk about their Chitra.
Bhogaparapu Bhadrachalam (of Parlakimedi), known as Chalam or BChalam
(who is the art director in Film industry, Madras for movies such
as Nippulanti Manishi etc), used to draw pictures for Chandamama
also.
We have forgotten our painters and sculptors. I don't hear of
any noted paintings or painters of the present day Andhra dESa.
Same way, our cartoonists are also forgotten and go unrecognized.
Thanks to Tana and especially Sri Jampala who took all the pains
in falicitating Bapu at the 10th TANA festivals. His paintings
were displayed and (re)published. Above all, Bapu is a different
story and he is a savyasa'ci. What about vapa', chitra, chalam,
and Bali? These are forgotten artists - as good as the story
writers, poets, and philosophers.
Last but not the least, I would like to bring a recent cartoon
here as a very good example. This is on the front cover of
cEra'talu (cEkoori ra'ma'ra'u ra'talu) - sa'hitya vimarSa -
para'marSa. The cartoon is :
the telugu alphabet "a" is lying on the hospital bed as it
is sick. The doctor (cEkoori ra'ma'ra'u) is examining the
sick telugu "a" with his stheth. Now you get the picture
of the present day diplorable state of telugu literature.
---pa'lana
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amdamga' vumDEvi, a'namdanniccEvi a' bommalE, giitala vampusompulE.
avi telugutana'nni virajimmulE!
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Disclaimer : Opinions expressed above are not those of the CAS at all
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V. Chowdary Jampala
> I was going thorugh several books to dig out the history of
> cartoon drawing and cartoonists in Andhra dESa and I could not
> find anything on these aspects. I have a collection of old cartoons
It is generally agreed that Sree taliSeTTi raamaaraavu is the
first Telugu cartoonist and the first Telugu cartoons were published in
1930 in aandhra patrika and bhaarati magazines.
Sometime in mid60s, there was a golden anniversary special of
Andhra Patrika, and it contained several reproductions of cartoons by Sri
raamaaraavu. That was the first time I have seen his cartoons.
According to the December 1994 issue of aahvaanam, Sree raamaaraavu, an
artist and a cartoonist, was born in jayapuram (Jeypore) in 1906 (I am
sure taht this would interest PALANA garu). A student of Sree giDugu
raamamoorti pantulu, he was a lawyer by profession and worked for a while as
the diwaan of Jeypore. He published a book, bhaarateeya chitrakaLa.
He died in 1960.
That issue of aahavaanam reproduced a cartoon by Sree raamaaraavu
called prabandha sundari using the descritpions of our prabandhakavulu
for body parts (e.g. the lotus stems for arms, lotuses for hands etc). It
is one of the cartoons I remember from before.
Regards. --- Chowdary
V. Chowdary Jampala
> Many years ago (in the 60s) Chandamama used to have a questions and answers
> feature (as did Balamitra) in which the editorial staff would address questions
> from readers on every topic under the, er, moon! In one of these Q&A features
> they were asked about the Chandamama artists vapaa, chitra and Shankar
> (of that period) and they replied with a brief intro of them.
While va.paa drew the covers for chandamaama, I do not recall him
illustrating the stories and serials inside. That was usually the work of
chitra and Sankar.
> (Digression: I don't know how many people think of Chandamama as a "mere"
> children's magazine. To me, the contributions it made to the growth of
> knowledge as well as to the development of an easy and elegant style
> are nothing short of astounding. We probably don't often think of this
> aspect of the contributions of Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao (along with
> Nagi Reddy and ChakrapaNi) but I really believe that no evaluation of the
> growth of a modern "telugu intellect" can be complete without taking
> Chandamama into account.)
In saahitya prayOjanam, a collection of essays by Sri
koDavaTiganTi kuTumba raavu, published in 1970 on the occasion of his
60th birthday, there were a few essays by him on the topic of children's
literature. chandamaama was the laboratory for experimenting with his
ideas. He was obviously very successful. At a time, when children had only
limited avenues available, chandamaama was a major influence in inculcating
reading habits, in arousing curiosity about the vast world outside, and in
developing personal value systems. chandamaama is one Telugu institution
that became a success in all Indian langauages.
Another contribution of Sree kodavaTiganTi was that he literally
shaped the Telugu weekly. As the editor of aandhra patrika weekly, he
introduced the current size and look of the Telugu weekly. Before that,
the weeklies and other magazines generally used to be in the size of the
newspapers folded in half. Under his editorship, aandhra patrika became
the primary weekly in Telugu. Its recent demise, of course, is another
sad chapter in contemporary Telugu literature history.
Regards. --- V. Chowdary Jampala
Sudhakar Chelikani
first cartoonist in Telugu. The very first cartoon done by him features a
scene in which a toddy tapper is teaching his son the art of 'tapping'. The
son is perched on a Palm tree and his Father is standing below and looking
up at him. The cartoon's caption reads - gItOpadEsam.
Sudhakar.
Krishna Curam
-----------------
Pa'lana wrote ...
> ---pa'lana
>
> Tata Prasad talked about vapa' (vaDDa'di pa'payya). For a long
> time people did not know who this vapa' was until someone
> came out and said that he was vaDDa'di pa'payya. There is a
> Siva temple on the river bank (Nagavali) in Srikakulam.
> There is a Siva painting in that temple. It was painted by
> vapa' (ma' vaDDa'dODu). Candamama got the glitterry look
> as Vaddadi drew his pictures for the stories. Of course,
> Chitra took over afterwards. Who is this Chitra? I don't
> know. Neither the Candamama publishers did talk about their Chitra.
> Bhogaparapu Bhadrachalam (of Parlakimedi), known as Chalam or BChalam
> (who is the art director in Film industry, Madras for movies such
> as Nippulanti Manishi etc), used to draw pictures for Chandamama
> also.
>
Well, Chitra was there much before Vapa. A long time fan of Chandamama,
I have some details about the artists who made the magazine successful.
(Some inportant artists between 1947 - 1980)
MTV ACHARYA : MTV acharya was there from the begining (1947-July). He mostly
did the cover work. His work gradually took better shape and was at his
best when he did the (Oil canvas) work for mahabharata series. His
artworks on "Yuddhabhumi", were a class apart. MTV Acharya started
art school in Bangalore and served a large set of art students till 1994.
He died recently. His school is doing pretty well ( Acharya Chitra kala
parishat ). MTV Acharys'a paintings have been shown in international
exibitions notably in Russia.
m.g.k : I dont know the real name. He/She did the artwork almost 3 - 4 years
in the begining.
CHITRA : Chitra was 'discovered' by Chakrapani. Chitra worked in Chandamam
from its inception till 1976. Chitra's original name is 'JV Raghavulu'. When
chitra died in 1976(June), Chandamam carried an article on him. I am writing
this from my memory ... Chitra was an excellent photographer, and his phots
have won prizes in international contests. Chitra got his inspiration ... from
travelling and trekking !! CHITRA did the artwork for almost 30 years. He was
the main artist.For 10 - 12 (1947 - 1960) years he consistently did the
'back cover' too. For some reason, this was never as good as the others.
CHITRA was the best artist Chandamama produced according to me. His artwork
was very natural and what I loved was the how he pictured nature, intricate
details, realistic, also the consistency.
SHANKAR: Long time artist. I think shankar is active even today. Shankar
started in 1953. Took over MTV Acharya for 'Cover' art too. He did the
Chandamam front covers for 3 - 4 years, ... till MTV returned to take that job
during mid 1956. Shankar artwork on Ramayana was very good. SHANKAR also did
artwork for Yuva.
Vapa : Vaddari Papayya is the most popular. He is doing the 'Cover' art
during 1960 ... I think he is still doing. His initial work was excellent.
( I particularly remember his work on Sanskrit dramas and Ramayana ). His
style is unique.
Krishna ( cu...@krishna.engr.sgi.com)\
Bapa Rao
...
> 13) Who make fun of teachers:
> e.g. Father (a teacher) is in a deep ba'ta'Kanii with his
> next door friend. His son came there facing his dad
> and showed him the slate saying :
> "na'nna'! ii lekka correctO ka'dO ceppu."
> It is written on the slate "nanna'! amma a' pakkimTa'yanni
> pampEsi lOnaki vacci tiPin tinamamTOmdi."
That's a cute one, but of course the classic on that theme is Bapu's
buDugu:
"abbaa, ii mIsaala vaaLLu eppuDu pOtarO, tiphin challaaripOtOndi"
That one is absolutely on-target!
(I am of course paraphrasing from memory, so it is not as funny as the
actual one.)
>
> 14) Who make fun of cine stars
> 15) Who make fun of politicians
> 16) Who make fun of India and other nations:
> When Appollo 13 reached moon, there was a cartoon in Andhra Patrika.
> This simply was a globe with India and America on it.
> America was shouting "Apollo" and India was shouting "appulO".
> That was something.
> 17) Who make fun of hair styles and dresses and fashions
> e.g. One time during 1970s, boys used to wear shirts with designs
> like flowers, twigs, branches, leaves and all the green world.
> Also they used to have bushy hair (like the one I have).
> One boy was wearing a shirt with flower branch design with
> birds on them and a real bird was nesting in his hair.
> My dad used to bring that example whenever I used to wear
> a flower design shirt.
> 18) Who draw cartoons on in laws (son, daughter, mother, father)
> 19) Who draw cartoons for all festive occassions - samkra'mti,
> deepa'vaLI, uga'di, samkra'mti, hOLi etc.
> This is unique in our Andhra dESa.
There is another category I can think of--playing on words and phrases, and
a similar category, playing on onomatopaeia (words that represent real-world
sounds). The latter are very very popular for dipaavaLi special issues, for
obvious reasons. I dimly recall a cartoonist "baabu" who did dipaavaLi
cartoons and signed them "baa (m) bu".
In the former (playing on words and phrases) category, I
can only think of one example that stands out in my memory--
Cartoon shows a man (actor) being sucked into a pot.
Caption: "aayana paatralO lInamai naTistaaru mari."
Unfortunately I don't remember the cartoonist's name. The example you gave
in 16 (Apollo->appulO) can also be classified under this "wordplay" category.
While the example is a clear usage of word/phrase play, in general such play
finds widespread use as a technique of the cartoonist for delivering the
punch.
...
> as Vaddadi drew his pictures for the stories. Of course,
> Chitra took over afterwards. Who is this Chitra? I don't
> know. Neither the Candamama publishers did talk about their Chitra.
> Bhogaparapu Bhadrachalam (of Parlakimedi), known as Chalam or BChalam
> (who is the art director in Film industry, Madras for movies such
> as Nippulanti Manishi etc), used to draw pictures for Chandamama
> also.
Many years ago (in the 60s) Chandamama used to have a questions and answers
feature (as did Balamitra) in which the editorial staff would address questions
from readers on every topic under the, er, moon! In one of these Q&A features
they were asked about the Chandamama artists vapaa, chitra and Shankar
(of that period) and they replied with a brief intro of them.
(Digression: I don't know how many people think of Chandamama as a "mere"
children's magazine. To me, the contributions it made to the growth of
knowledge as well as to the development of an easy and elegant style
are nothing short of astounding. We probably don't often think of this
aspect of the contributions of Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao (along with
Nagi Reddy and ChakrapaNi) but I really believe that no evaluation of the
growth of a modern "telugu intellect" can be complete without taking
Chandamama into account.)
Bapa Rao
V. Chowdary Jampala
> We have forgotten our painters and sculptors. I don't hear of
> any noted paintings or painters of the present day Andhra dESa.
> Same way, our cartoonists are also forgotten and go unrecognized.
> Thanks to Tana ...
> in falicitating Bapu at the 10th TANA festivals. His paintings
> were displayed and (re)published. Above all, Bapu is a different
> story and he is a savyasa'ci. What about vapa', chitra, chalam,
> and Bali? These are forgotten artists - as good as the story
> writers, poets, and philosophers.
PALANA gaaru probably did not catch the art exhibition or the
souvenir of the 10th TANA Conference. (Can't blame him. With all the
things happening simultaneoulsy, it was difficult to take in everything ;-)
In addition to displaying the paintings of several Telugu old
masters, the art exhibition included an exhibition of contemporary Telugu
painters. The noted Telugu artist and art critic Sri Chalasani Prasada Rao
(eenaaDu), and Sri yagaLLa raamakRUshNa, with the help of the AP Govt,
helped arrange the display of works by all the current leading lights of
Telugu art, including lakshmaa gowD, vaikunTham etc. Sri S.V. Ramarao,
the greatest modern artist from India, was the chair of the Art Exhibition
committee. At the time of the exhibition, Sri Rama Rao and Sri Veluri
Venkateswara Rao produced an exhibition guide which included a lot of
information about Telugu Art. Sri Prasada Rao and Sri Ramakrishna
published and distributed a book, 'kaLa-kaanti' about the contemporary
art scene in Andhra Pradesh.
The exhibition also included the display of several political
cartoons by Sreedhar (eenaaDu),
The Conference souvenir had a special 24 page section on Andhra Art
with in-depth articles on the art of S.V. Ramarao and Bapu. In addition, the
souevnir included 32 pages of full-color reproductions of works by Telugu
painters with detailed notes and several black and white pictures as well.