The Kerala Cartoon Academy is an organization of cartoonists in Kerala, India. It includes free-lancers recognized by the Kerala State Government. The Academy has a membership of more than 100 professional cartoonists. Since its inception in 1982, [1] the Academy has been holding camps/workshops, [2] exhibitions, [3] seminars, study tours, festivals [4] and competitions. [5] More than 600 such camps/workshops have been organized so far.
Kerala has had cartooning for nearly 90 years and is known for exporting considerable cartooning manpower to the national capital. However, it took a long while for local cartoonists to find a forum to get together. The first effort to organize Kerala's cartoonists happened in 1967. Kutty, Manthri, Shivaram, Thomas, and Artist Raghavan Nair formed an association for cartoonists. Though it took off with a great vision, it was short-lived. But the spirit of the movement survived, and in 1981 a platform for cartoonists came into existence under the leadership of Shivaram, Thomas, Yesudasan, Toms, Gafoor, Seeri, and Nathan among others. That was the Kerala Cartoon Academy. Over the years, it has grown to voice the concerns of cartooning nationwide though its activities are largely confined to Kerala.
The Academy is not just an organization by cartoonists for cartoonists. It reaches out to the public through cartoon shows and interactive programmes. In the evolving democracy that India is, the Academy feels that the probing satirical medium has a special place in the public mind.
Thrissur, formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrisshivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the third largest urban agglomeration in Kerala after Kochi and Kozhikode, and the 21st largest in India. It is famous for the Thrissur Pooram festival. The city is built around a 65-acre (26 ha) hillock called the Thekkinkaadu Maidaanam which seats the Vadakkumnathan temple. It is located 304 kilometres (189 mi) north-west of the state's capital city, Trivandrum. Thrissur was once the capital of the Kingdom of Cochin. Thrissur is known as "Cultural Capital of Kerala" due of its cultural, spiritual and religious leanings throughout history. One of its main cultural events is the Thrissur Pooram, which attracts quite a number of tourists and travellers.
Kattassery Joseph Yesudas is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. Yesudas is estimated to have recorded more than 50,000 songs in various Indian languages, including Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, Odia,Bengali, Marathi as well as Arabic, English, Latin, and Russian, in a career spanning six decades. He is often referred to as Gaanagandharvan. He is one of the highly acclaimed singers in India. Yesudas holds the record for singing 11 songs in different languages in a single day. He has also composed a number of Malayalam film songs during the 1970s and 1980s.
Mohanlal Viswanathan,, , known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, television host and film distributor who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi-language films. Mohanlal has a prolific career spanning over four decades, during which he has acted in more than 340 films. Mohanlal's contributions to the Malayalam cinema have been praised by his contemporaries in the Indian film industry. The Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 2001, and Padma Bhushan in 2019, India's fourth and third highest civilian honours, for his contributions to Indian cinema. In 2009, he became the first actor in India to be awarded the honorary rank of Lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army.
Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail,, , better known by his stage name Mammootty,, is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. In a career spanning five decades, he has acted in over 400 films, mainly in Malayalam, with several in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and English. His acting and contributions to Malayalam cinema have been praised by his contemporaries in the Indian film industry.
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman was an Indian cartoonist, illustrator, and humorist. He is best known for his creation The Common Man and for his daily cartoon strip, You Said It in The Times of India, which started in 1951.
Loyola School, Thiruvananthapuram is a private Catholic primary and secondary school for boys located in Sreekariyam, Thiruvananthapuram, in the state of Kerala, India. Founded in 1961, the school has been run by the Jesuits since its establishment.
Ottupulackal Velukkuty Vijayan, commonly known as O. V. Vijayan, was an Indian author and cartoonist, who was an important figure in modern Malayalam language literature. Best known for his first novel Khasakkinte Itihasam (1969), Vijayan was the author of six novels, nine short-story collections, and nine collections of essays, memoirs and reflections.
Madhyamam is a Malayalam-language newspaper published in Kerala, India, since 1987. It is India's first international newspaper.It was founded in 1987 by the Ideal Publications Trust. It has nine editions in India and its Persian Gulf edition Gulf Madhyamam has nine in the Middle East.
Govindan Aravindan was an Indian film director, screenwriter, musician, cartoonist, and painter. He was one of the pioneers of parallel cinema in Malayalam. He was known for his unorthodox way of filmmaking; he changed his cinematic forms consistently and experimented in storytelling without regular narrative styles. He studied at University College, Trivandrum. Before venturing into the film field, he was an established cartoonist. He had also worked with documentaries and theatre. He also occasionally directed music for other filmmakers. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri in 1990.
Kerala is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Canara, and Travancore. Spread over 38,863 km2 (15,005 sq mi), Kerala is the twenty-first largest Indian state by area. It is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Lakshadweep Sea to the west. With 33 million inhabitants as per the 2011 census, Kerala is the thirteenth-largest Indian state by population. It is divided into 14 districts with the capital being Thiruvananthapuram. Malayalam is the most widely spoken language and is also the official language of the state.
The city of Thiruvananthapuram has been the centre of cultural activities of Kerala (India) from the time it was made capital of Travancore in 1745. The capital city is a major intellectual and artistic center. The Thiruvananthapuram Museum and Thiruvananthapuram Zoo were started during the reign of Swathi Thirunal (1813–1847) and are one of the oldest of their kind in India. The city's libraries include the Trivandrum Public library, which was started in 1829. The Swathi Thirunal College of Music and 'College of fine arts' are the leading institutions related to music and arts.
Chackalethu John Yesudass, popularly known as Yesudasan, was an Indian political cartoonist from Kerala. He was the founding chairman of the Kerala Cartoon Academy and chairman of the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi.
Kesava Shankara Pillai, better known as Shankar, was an Indian cartoonist. He is considered the father of political cartooning in India. He founded Shankar's Weekly, India's Punch in 1948. Shankar's Weekly also produced cartoonists like Abu Abraham, Ranga and Kutty, he closed down the magazine during the Emergency of 25 June 1975. From then on he turned to making children laugh and enjoy life.
S. Jithesh, popularly known as Jitheshji, is a speed cartoonist and former Vice-Chairman of Kerala Cartoon Academy. He has initiated and popularised "Super-Speedy Cartooning" through his infotainment cartoon stage shows named Varayarangu. His infotainment art form, Varayarangu, is a blend of poetry, anecdotes, and socio-political satire with high speed drawing. Sketching of more than thousand celebrity caricatures at a quick pace and satirical commentary is the major attraction of his cartoon stage shows. He is recognised as the "World's Fastest Performing Cartoonist" since his ability to speed sketch fifty celebrity caricatures within five minutes.
Cherian Philip is an Indian politician and is the Coordinator of Nava Kerala Action Plan, which is an initiative of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Government of Kerala. He is a left fellow traveler2001 to 2021He was the Secretary of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee while A. K. Antony was in presidency. He was a prominent youth and student leader of the Indian National Congress in seventies and eighties. A political historian of Kerala and India, he has authored several books. He worked as a consultant for Kairali TV and People TV. He was the Chairman of Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) and founder president of Kerala Deshiya Vedhi - a social organisation.
Edmund Thomas Clint was an Indian child prodigy known for having drawn over 25,000 paintings during his life of less than seven years.
Pamarthy Shankar is an artist, caricaturist and cartoonist from Hyderabad, India. He is currently working as chief cartoonist for Sakshi, a daily newspaper in Hyderabad published in Telugu.
B. M. Gafoor was an Indian cartoonist and comic artist. He was one of the most prominent cartoonists from Kerala and was the founder of Kerala Cartoon Academy. Within a career of more than three decades, he created some of the most popular comics including the social satire Kunjamman.
Harish Chandra Shukla, better known by his pen name Kaak, is an Indian editorial cartoonist and caricaturist who works in Hindi-language media. He is the foremost Hindi newspaper cartoonist, having worked with leading newspapers such as Jansatta, Navbharat Times, Dainik Jagran, Rajasthan Patrika, and a few others, in a career spanning several decades. 'Kaak' means crow in Hindi, which according to a proverb, is the bird that raises its raucous voice when someone tells a lie.
Raju Nair is an Indian newspaper cartoonist. He is one of the most prominent cartoonists in the Malayalam newspaper industry. Though his official name is Raju Peter, even his close associates do not know this or this name is seldom known. Most importantly, he is the director of first tele-film with animated cartoons to be telecasted in a channel.