The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : A fine art of tightrope walking

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 19, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

A fine art of tightrope walking

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: Caricaturing the high and mighty is every cartoonist's bread and butter.

Of course, the high and mighty might take offence if the caricature is not to their liking. That conflict between the cartoonist and the caricatured is as old as the hills.

But if the work of art is benign, mild and in no way hurting the eminent personality, the latter would simply sport a smile and certify the cartoonist's greatness.

During his recent visit to Bangalore, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was presented with this caricature of himself, looking straight out of a science laboratory. Only the placard with "Save environment" as a slogan revealed the cartoonist's true intentions. Apparently, the President quite liked the work and readily autographed the caricature.

For cartoonist B.V. Panduranga Rao, this autographed piece was the highlight of his exhibition, "Environ Toons", held at the Jnana Jyothi auditorium of the Central College as part of the World Environment Day celebrations. Ask the artists, they tell you the fine art of tightrope walking on the thin line of caricaturing the bigwigs. One false frown there and an offending gesture here, and they will be in soup.

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