Bangla Cartoon 150

Historically, humour is deep-rooted in the daily life of Bengalis. Cartooning in Bengal came of age during the early twentieth century at the hands of Gaganendranath Tagore, gradually becoming predominant with all-time greats like Prafulla Chandra Lahiri alias Piciel or Kafi Khan, Reboti Bhusan, Chandi Lahiri and Amal Chakrabarti. The next generation of cartoonists i.e. Anup Ray, Debasish Deb, Abhi, Sentu and others carried forward this glorious tradition. Other Indians, by and large, have not been exposed to these exemplary works since it was restricted to regional newspapers and periodicals.

In April 2022, Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Cartoonists organized an exhibition at its Indian Cartoon Gallery to celebrate the 150th year of publication of the first Bengali cartoon in Amrita Bazar Patrika. Perhaps, for the first time, the works of various Bengali cartoonists were displayed beyond the provincial barrier. The exhibition, with subtitles in English, primarily focused on the works of Bengali cartoonists that were published in various dailies/ periodicals over the years, both within and outside West Bengal. The tremendous response to the exhibition highlighted the need to publish a book that could create awareness of the remarkable contribution of Bengali cartoonists to the Indian cartooning.