CHENNAI: Cartoons have always captured a different perspective of society’s tribulations since RK Laxman’s ‘Common Man’ sketches, that often served both humour and satire in equal measure. But keeping with the times, it has also evolved to provide education to young minds, and it is in this instructional capacity that cartoonist S Jithesh created a unique speed-cartooning show with his talents. In the city for Sargam, a Malayali Margazhi festival, Jitesh will be presenting his infotainment show ‘Varayarangu’ today, and CE caught up with him to see what strokes he had in store for us.
“Cartoons today have changed from what they used to be — while most think they are only suitable for a child’s jest, they can also be used as an educational medium,” says Jithesh, who first forayed into speed-cartooning in 1990s with a show called Varavega Vismayam. Categorising his art as ‘Super Speedy Drawing’, Jithesh drew crowds around the State and country through his lightning-quick caricatures, which were often accompanied by poetry and mild satire. But over the years, Jithesh has taken what was considered a fine art and converted it into a stage art through Varayarangu, with a heady mix of entertainment, satire and humour.
“I wanted to experiment with a blend of caricature and socio-political satire in Varayarangu!” he says and adds that the idea of this programme came from his urge to educate and connect with the young. “Most kids today might know about celebrities worldwide but may not know our freedom fighters Bhagat Singh or Rajguru. I wanted to impart knowledge about history and culture through their favourite medium — cartoons!”
Varayarangu was launched in 2008 as a tribute to his guru and noted late artist VS Vallyathan. On that day, Jitesh drew 50 celebrity faces within five minutes at the commemorative function in Pandalam, which made him the world’s fastest cartoonist. He has taken his unique ‘infotainment’ programme to more than 5000 stages across India and abroad. The show is crafted over one-hour, but it is so designed that the audience will not have a dull moment,” says Jitesh, who is a law graduate.
He became the first Indian performing artist to sketch in five countries abroad for five consecutive days as part of a programme for a Malayalam news channel. Apart from that he was also the editor-in-chief of a monthly magazine called Chiricheppu Cartoon, and has also done illustrations for several prominent authors, including Kamala Das’s short story collections.
(Watch Jitesh performing Varayarangu today at Sargam, Malayali Margazhi Festival, from 4.30 pm onwards at Asan Memorial School, Cochin House, Anderson Road, Egmore.)