The Common Man | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | The Times of India |
First appearance | You Said It (1951) |
Created by | R. K. Laxman |
In-story information | |
Species | Human |
Place of origin | India |
The Common Man is a cartoon character created by Indian author and cartoonist R. K. Laxman. For over a half of a century, the Common Man has represented the hopes, aspirations, troubles and perhaps even foibles of the average Indian, through a daily comic strip, You Said It in The Times of India . The comic was started in 1951. [1]
When Laxman began to draw cartoons in The Times of India, he attempted to represent different states and cultures in India. In the rush to meet deadlines, he began to draw fewer and fewer background characters, until finally he found only one remaining—the now-familiar Common Man. The Common Man generally acts as a silent witness to all the action in the comic. According to anthropologist Ritu Gairola Khanduri, "Clad in a dhoti and a plaid jacket, the puzzled Common Man is no dupe: his sharp observations miss no detail of the political circus." [2]
Purushottam Laxman Deshpande, popularly known by his initials or as P. L. Deshpande, was a Marathi writer and humorist from Maharashtra. He was also an accomplished film and stage actor, script writer, author, composer, musician, singer and orator. He was often referred to as "Maharashtra's beloved personality".
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer 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.
Major General Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri (Retd.), AVSM, is an Indian politician. He was Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2007 to 2009 and 2011 to 2012. He was a Member of Parliament in the 16th Lok Sabha representing the Garhwal parliamentary constituency of Uttarakhand and is a senior member of the Bharatiya Janta Party. Earlier, he was a cabinet minister, Ministry of Surface Transport of the government headed by the former Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Kesava Shankar 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.
Symbiosis International (Deemed University), is a multi-campus private, deemed university located in the city of Pune, India. The university has more than 41 academic institutions spread over various campuses in Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad,Nagpur, Nashik, Noida. In 2019, the university opened a campus in Nagpur.
Kamala Laxman was an Indian author of children's books, and the wife of cartoonist R. K. Laxman. Kamala died in 2015 at the age of 90. She is survived by her son Srinivas, a retired journalist, her daughter-in-law Usha and granddaughter Rimanika.
Shankar's Weekly was an Indian satirical magazine published between 1948 and 1975. It was founded and run by Keshav Shankar Pillai, a pioneering political cartoonist. The magazine has been compared to the UK's Punch.
R. K. Films was an Indian film production company based in R. K. Studio, a film studio, both established by and named after the Bollywood actor Raj Kapoor. It was headquartered at Chembur, Mumbai. Founded in 1948, one year after India gained independence. It had a rough start, as its first movie, Aag (1948) did not perform well at the box office. Most of the R. K. Films productions share a common theme of criticising society and depicting love across social divides.
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Wagle Ki Duniya is an Indian sitcom that aired on DD National from 1988 to 1990. It was produced by Durga Khote, directed by Kundan Shah, and was based on characters created by noted cartoonist, R. K. Laxman, especially "the common man" about the issues of common middle-class Indian man. It starred Anjan Srivastav as a bumbling sales clerk in a multinational and Bharati Achrekar as his wife.
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Sameer Shah is an Indian actor best known for comedy shows. Shah's debut was in Tu Mere Agal Bagal Hai and he has also appeared in Shrimaan Shrimati Phir Se and R. K. Laxman Ki Duniya. Of his role in R. K. Laxman Ki Duniya Shah was to say that "he loves playing this role that requires a lot of focus on grammar.", while noting his character Bakulesh has magical powers.
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The R. K. Laxman Museum is a single-artist museum located in Balewadi area of Pune, Maharashtra. It is dedicated to the life and works of R. K. Laxman, one of India's most popular cartoonist and illustrator. The Government of Maharashtra and the Pune Municipal Corporation collaborated to create this museum which was inaugurated on 6 March 2022 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.