Photos from Inauguration of the 1st Pune International Cartoon Festival in India

Pune International Cartoon Festival was held on the occasion of 5th May World Cartoonists day at Balgandharva Art Gallery, Pune by Cartoonists Combine and Yuva Samvad Samajik Sanstha.

It was a three day program which included cartoon exhibition, discussions, demonstrations, interviews and lectures. More than 250 cartoonists from all over the world have participated in the event. 800 cartoon entries were received. Out of that only 260 cartoons were displayed in the exhibition.

 

 

 

 

First Day

The festival was inaugurated by eminent cartoonist and President of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Mr Rajsaheb Thackrey. He said "My hands are eager to draw cartoons everyday but due to busy political career I could not find relaxed time. Then my cartoons find their way through my speech". He has drawn the caricature of Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar which went viral on social media as well as it was the prime news on all news channels.

1) First day second session was started with interview and demonstration of senior cartoonist Prabhakar Wairkar (Mumbai).

2) Second program was a lecture of young cartoonist Gaurav Sarjerao (Mumbai) on 'Digital art, Storyboard and Animation.'

3) Third was a presentation by cartoon historian and eminent cartoonist Prashant Kulkarni (Mumbai) The subject was -the challenges in political cartooning. He said, 'gone are the days when sharp criticism through cartoon was accepted with sportmanship spirit. That was true democracy.'

 

 

 

 

Second day

The day started with a demo by Umesh Kavle and Vivek Prabhukeluskar.

Savitribai Phule Pune Vidyapeeth has established a cartoon museum. This may be the first one by any University in India. It's curator Dr. Priya Gohad and the brain behind this concept, senior cartoonist Mr Suraj S. K. Shreeram were the guests of second session. They have given the details about its start and it's future plans and appealed to all the cartoonists from India to contribute with their work.

 

 

 

 

Presence of 2 veterans Mr. SD Phadnis, Pune (97 yr) and Mr Prabhakar Zalke, Nashik (85 yr) was the attraction of the second day event. 'Cartooning is an art which transcends the walls of languages' said Mr Phadnis. Both the senior cartoonists are still active and draw cartoons for various publications. They are idols of all the Marathi cartoonists. Mr. Zalke has a great collection of old cartoons and cartoon books. He declared To handover it to Cartoonists Combine for further preservation and study. President of Cartoonists Combine Mr Sanjay Mistry and Mr Prashant Kulkarni has accepted his invitation to go to his town to collect those items.

In the evening senior Congress leader UlhasDada Pawar was interviewed by Sanjay Mistry. It was a treat for art lovers. Mr. UlhasDada Pawar is a politician with great interest in literature, art and spirituality. He shared his experiences with old politicians, the view about cartooning and art field.

Demonstrations by Atul purandare, Umesh Kawale, Sharayu Farkande were carried out.

 

 

 

Third day

Session opening by Guardian Minister Chandrakant Dada Patil minister of culture and higher education. He said "cartoon art is important and effective medium to keep watch and control the society and politicians". He also emphasized that universities should start a certificate course in cartoon art and government will support it. All Cartoonists along with two lady cartoonists Sharayu Farkande and Maithili Patankar were felicitated by him. Meghraj Raje Bhosle President of All India Marathi Film Federation was also present at that time.

 

Second session:

1) Let's learn about art: Panel discussion about art education, present scenario, future scope etc. Participating cartoonists: Prof. Mandar Pardikar ( MIT College, Pune), Prof. Vivek Magar (D.Y. Patil College, Pune ) Mr Shaunak Sanvatsar (Reliance Digital, Pune). The discussion was moderated by Yogendra Bhagat, Secretary, Cartoonists Combine.

2) Presentation of Vivek Prabhukeluskar (Mumbai) on cartoon composition with his wit and humour was well appreciated by audience.

3) Teaching with the help of cartoons: Lecture / presentation by cartoonist Prof. Dr. Ashish Vikhar ( Engineering College, Jalgaon.)

4) Long journey of little Chintoo: Presentation of the journey of Chintoo cartoon strip from the beginning till today. It's presence in various forms/media i.e. newspaper, books, social media, feature film, reels, animation, t-shirts etc and soon on TV with half an hour episodes.

Creator of Chintoo Mr. Charuhas Pandit (Pune) and Bhavesh with animators team presented this journey.

 

 

 

The three day program was sponsered by cartoonist Dhanraj Garad's organisation Yuva Samvad Samajik Sanstha under the guidance of Cartoonists Combine' President Mr Sanjay Mistry and ex-Pressidents Charuhas Pandit and Prashant Kulkarni. Programmes logo was designed by cartoonist Gajanan Ghongade. The team of Yogendra Bhagat, Vishwas Suryawanshi, Kishor Shitole, Atul Purandare has taken great efforts to make this event a grand success.

 

Mukim Tamboli, Ganesh Bhalerao, Chaitanya Govande, Amit Papal (Pune), Siddheshwar Gajmal (Latur), Arvind Deshpande (Jalna) Suhas Palimkar (Beed), Sharad Mahajan (Thane) were also present.