Method in Tailang's madness

"You have to be mad to be a cartoonist," says the Hindustan Times cartoonist Sudhir Tailang during his talk to Yojana Sharma about his life, experiences, colleagues and apparent madness.

"You have to be mad to be a cartoonist," says Sudhir Tailang curtly. He surely has to be the first and the last cartoonist to say that. But he means every word of what he says. "Absolutely, you have to be crazy otherwise how will you laugh on yourself and society at large, which is necessary for being a cartoonist." You certainly can't sum him in few words.

HT Image

The celebrated cartoonist, Sudhir Tailang, has added another feather to his cap. Famous for his daily cartoon strip Here and Now which appears in the Hindustan Times, he has been felicitated the Padma Shree for education journalism, 2003. This is just another laurel to his endless list of achievements. Tailang, a self taught artist has been associated with animation movies, charity shows, book, shows and exhibition on cartoons. He talks about his life, experiences, colleagues and apparent madness with Yojana Sharma.

YS: You are a master of both cartoons and portraits. How are they different?
ST: Cartoons and portraits are similar in some aspects and yet different. A cartoon displays humour and pathos at the same time, which cannot happen with a portrait. Before making a portrait, I study and analyse the subject and the mannerisms. You have to study the subject's details, such as his style of speech, his dressing sense and peculiar facial expressions, which reflect his personality. A portrait is a reflection of the subject's personality.