MARIO MIRANDA : THE EMINENT CARTOONIST
By Wellington Dias.
The art of poking fun through the pen and bringing out a grin and even a laugh (at times) with subjects ranging from politics to other day to day events, is what cartooning is all about and this is exactly what, Mr. Mario Joao Carlos do Rosario de Britto Miranda or just Mario Miranda, as he is better known has been doing for quite a while now, thereby, making him one of India’s and Goa’s - most renowned cartoonists.
Meeting, this soft spoken Gentleman at his ancestral place in Loutolim (on 7th
Jan., 2001) , could notice that Mario Miranda, kind of exuded a laid back nature
and did not have much airs of himself in spite of being well known & famous and
during the course of our tete-a-tete, he spoke on a wide range of topics, which
included his early days, his work, etc. He also provided a lot of information
that laid the basis of this article.
EARLY LIFE :
Mario’s journey into cartooning began when he started to caricature on his home
walls and his Mother noticing his talents, presented him with a blank book to
caricature on (which according to Mario was his “Diary”) and had to say that his
early cartoons revolved mostly around day to day events of village life and
admitted that his work, even today, is mostly on a trial and error basis.
Into CARTOONING :
Mario mentioned that he never envisioned a future into cartooning even while
doing his BA in History of the English Novel (at St. Xavier’s College), as at
that time, he was focussed mainly in entering the Indian Administrative Service
(IAS).
His friends noticing his artistic talents, encouraged him to make postcards and
draw for them, which earned him extra pocket money and according to him some of
his drawings & cartoons made their way to newspapers and publications, which
brought him an offer to work for the “Current” magazine and later on, the Times
of India Group offered him a slot (even though being rejected at first), with
his creations like Nimbupani, Miss Fonseca appearing on a regular basis in the “Femina”,
“Economic Times”, etc.
NEW HORIZONS :
Mario Miranda’s life, was to change after being offered the Fundacao Calouste
Gulbenkian Scholarship which enabled him to travel to and stay a year in
Portugal and this time in Portugal according to Mario helped him to broaden his
horizons. After a year in Portugal, Mario travelled to England and was to spend
five years there, learning as well as doing jobs for newspapers and recalled of
his getting a break to apply his skills in an altogether different field, i.e.
of television animation (at Independent Television).
Besides this job, Mario mentioned about selling his cartoons to magazines which
were featured in the “LILIPUT” and even in other prestigious Magazines like
“MAD” (once) and “PUNCH” (twice). Mario had to say that this supplemented his
finances, thereby, enabling him to travel around Europe, interacting with other
cartoonists (from whom he gained a lot of knowledge & encouragement) and also
meeting Sir Ronald Searle (whom he considers as his mentor).
RETURN TO BOMBAY & WEDDING BELLS :
After five years in England, Mario decided to return to Bombay and was offered
back his old job with the Times of India but entioned that he had to work under
R.K. Laxman’s shadow.
After his return Mario was to meet another artist by the name of “Habiba”, with
both tying the knot and have two Sons. The elder one Rahul (married to an
American), a coiffeur by profession, owns his own saloon in New York & resides
there while the younger one Rishad, lives with him and Mario considers him a
good artist (having designed the book “Legends of Goa”) and a cartoonist in his
own way.
RECOGNITION & FAME :
Mario, had to say that his main break to fame & recognition came in 1974, when,
at the invitation of the United States Information Services, he travelled to
America, which enabled him to promote his art and interact with other
cartoonists in U.S.A. and also meet Charles (creator of Peanuts) and Herblock
(of the Washington Post).
He further added that the States trip brought him recognition, from his home
Country (being awarded the Padmashree award) and also being invited to exhibit
his works in America and other Countries like Japan, Brazil, Australia,
Singapore, France, Yugoslavia, Portugal and at the time of the interview
mentioned about his exhibition presently being on, at Lisbon.
ABOUT CARTOONING :
Mario mentioned about his likeness for the English and American cartoons and had
to say that India, too, had some good cartoonists as well.
About cartooning, he had to say that it was a serious business, which required
lot of dedication & hardwork and was of the opinion that Mumbai & Delhi are two
places where cartoonists are better appreciated.
Even though not leaning towards politics for his cartoons, he mentioned that in
India one could not help but cartoon the political scenario, but his proclivity
with the pen and ink has mostly centred around cartoons of a non-controversial
nature and poking fun without hurting sentiments.
A fact that needs mention about him is that in spite of having no formal
training at Art School, it was only through his in-born talents, that he has
made it big in this field.
MARIO’s HOBBIES & OTHER WORKS :
Besides cartooning, Mario mentioned of his fondness to do murals of which he has
a number of them in Goa and other parts of India. He further added that as of
now, he was a bit tired of cartooning and wanted to do paintings or serious
works of art and mentioned already doing quite a number of them and being well
appreciated for the same.
Mario, to his credit has a number of books, some of which are “Laugh it Off”,
“Goa with Love”, “Germany in Wintertime”, etc. and plans to republish the
aforementioned titles in the near future as they are not available presently.
Besides his own books, Mario, mentioned about his illustrating books of Dom
Moraes (“A Journey to Goa”), Manohar Malgaonkar (“Inside Goa”) and Mario Cabral
e Sa’s (“Legends of Goa”).
Besides Cartooning he mentioned about his affinity for travel, reading,
listening to music, {which includes Jazz, Pop, classical and GOAN MUSIC (for
which he mentioned his special fondness and hoped that it lives on, forever)},
Drama, Cinema and his pets.
LIFE AT PRESENT :
Nearing retirement, Mario’s love for his home place beckoned and now lives at
his ancestral home (where part of the hindi movie Trikaal was shot), at Loutolim
with his Wife, younger Son and his pets.
Even though retired, Mario mentioned about him being more busier than before, as
he submits his work from home to magazines & publications in Mumbai and
attributes this possible due to better communication facilities like courier,
etc.
ABOUT HIS HOMEPLACE :
When queried about Goa, he rued the fact that the Goan identity was fast
disappearing with influx of outsiders, houses being sold off, land being
developed haphazardly and in an unplanned manner, the environment being ravaged
and felt that very soon Goans themselves, will be a minority in their own home
place and appealed to the NR Goans to take interest in Goa and be aware as to
what is happening back home.
About Loutolim, he mentioned that it was loosing its character and added that
its typical touch needs to be maintained.
@ 2002 Wellington Dias
Copyrights Reserved
E-mail :
wellydias@hotmail.com
Picture & Cartoon Courtesy Goa Today Magazine