Page 251 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

248 ART AND CRAFTS

Dutta (under the pseudonym ‘Mitaji’), artist Kalam
Mahmud (under names like ‘Kalam’, ‘Mahmud’, ‘Titu’,
‘Birbal’), artist Qayyum Chowdhury (under names
‘Kachow’ and ‘Chowka’) and Ranabi did cartoons for
Sandhani. In the sixties Azizur Rahman (under the name
‘Aroop’) started to do cartoons for Holiday. He did directly
political cartoons. He started to do pocket cartoons in the
Bengali daily Dainik Pakistan from 1966. Apart from this
artist Mustafa Monwar under the name ‘Montu’, artist
Hashem Khan under the name ‘Chhobi Khan’ and Sirajul
Haque under the name ‘Sarda’ did cartoons in the sixties.
Cartoons by Hashem Khan and Sirajul Haque were
published in the daily Ittefaq. Journalist Saleh Chowdhury
did some political cartoons in Awaz, Purbodesh, Paygam
and some other papers under the name ‘Anzeer.’ Another
cartoonist of the sixties was artist Shahtab.
At the end of the sixties the movement for democracy and
independence gained momentum. This was reflected in all
media of the arts. A notable publication of this pertiod is
fig. 5.9 Rafiqun Nabi, Unasatturer Chhara published in 1969 with satirical rhymes and cartoonish pictures. An
Electoral Campaign, English weekly named Forum (under the initiative of Dr. Kamal Hossain, Professor
Weekly Forum, 12 Rehman Sobhan and others) was published at that time which had cartoons as its cover
December 1970 (fig. 5.9). The publication house ‘Sandhani Prakashani’ published an English monthly
titled Express (Alamgir Kabir was involved with it). Cartoons with sharp political
comments were published in this magazine. At that time, weeklies such as Holiday,
Lalana, monthlies such as Rahasya Patrika, Samipeshu started to publish cartoons on a
regular basis. At that time Ranabi became the single dominant name in the world of
cartoons in these periodicals. In the mid 60s some organizations began to publish posters
and booklets to create public awareness about such subjects as health and education.
During the non-cooperation movement in March 1971, the banners and festoons in the
streets of Dhaka had numerous cartoons on the military rulers of Pakistan and the
conspirator Bhutto. An exhibition of such cartoons was held around Dhaka Stadium
on 23 March 1971. The famous cartoon by Quamrul Hassan ‘Annihilate these
Demons’ during the Liberation War was published as a poster and raised the mental
strength of the freedom fighters and the entire nation (fig. 4.9). Many other artists
created countless cartoons on the oppression and cruelty of the Pakistani’s over the
Bengali people which were published in national dailies, various magazines, wall-
magazines published in small areas and communities and also on hand drawn posters.
After the independence, the daily Dainik Bangla and the weekly Bichitra played the
pioneering role in the practice of cartoons. Dainik Bangla which was Dainik Pakistan
earlier, had started to publish pocket cartoons by Aroop during the Pakistan period. The
process of publishing a daily cartoon in a newspaper was thus introduced. Various social