New Delhi: Caricatures or pictorials is an intriguing medium to portray the socio-political scenario since ages. And when its cartoonists like K. Shankar Pillai, communication becomes pretty humoristic and politically satirical, that engages the audience well.

Having said that, let us know a bit about one of the renowned Indian cartoonists of all time- K Shankar Pillai.

Popularly known as “the father of political cartooning” in India, Kesava Shankar Pillai was born in 1902 at Kayamkulam, Kerala. Shankar took keen interest in dramas, scouting, literary activities etc. Shankar Pillai started working as a cartoonist in the 1930s. His works include satirical caricaturing of political leaders to viceroys of India, to cartoons for children.

K Shankar Pillai’s Works

One of his most famous cartoons appeared in the Hindustan Times in the early 1940s. It showed the British Viceroy Lord Linlithgow as Goddess Bhadrakali, standing over a burning body in a cremation ground.

Shankar’s cartoons were published in The Free Press Journal and The Bombay Chronicle. Interestingly, one of Shankar’s most special ‘victims’ was the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. His weekly publication, by the name “Shankar’s Weekly” famously published some 4000 odd cartoons of the then prime minister of India. Nehru was a man who respected excellence and creativity and Shankar. Their fellowship was born out of mutual admiration.

Image Credits: Twitter

In 1957, K Shankar Pillai’s ventures for children were brought under the banner of the Children’s Book Trust. He founded the Children’s Book Trust in Nehru House on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in New Delhi in 1957.

Pillai’s Legacy

In 2002, ‘A Symphony of Dreams’, an exhibition to celebrate his 100th birth year, was organized at the Lalit Kala Academy, Delhi. In May 2012, a cartoon of Bhimrao Ramji

Ambedkar sketched by him in 1949 caused “furor” in Indian Parliament, in reaction to its inclusion in NCERT education material.

K Shankar Pillai left the world on December 26, 1989.