Albert Camus said, “There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn,” and
proving him right is the small group of cartoonists that keeps political
cartooning alive, armed with their twin salvos of humour and satire, created
with a lethal dose of intelligence and a skewed sense of the world. Appupen
(‘old man’ in Malayalam) is a nom de plume of the graphic artist and author who
was in Goa at Oddbar, Assagao to showcase his work and surprisingly also don
another avatar of a drummer while performing with other musicians.
“My ‘rocker’ dream was fulfilled when I had my own band in
Bengaluru as the drummer and lead dreamer,” confesses Appupen, who used it as
fodder to create a comic series ‘Diary of Rock’ and ‘Empyr of Rock’ for Rolling
Stone magazine. What gets our attention though is the political parody in his
self published 44-page comic, ‘Rashtrayana: Trouble in Paradesh’, featuring the
saffron clad superhero RashtraMan and his sidekick Cowboy, who works along with
his friends, Buffalo Bull and Gau Rakshas set in the ‘Year of the Cow’, in a
country where Go-Moo-Tra is the popular drink. The story is about how The Great
Leader of Rashtriya calls in RashtraMan to bring back his “abducted” wife from
Padostan. It has some well etched, interesting characters like Propagandhi –
beating up nationalistic fervour to afroth through ‘fake’ bulletins. If you
find any resemblance to the current political scenario in India, it is not
purely coincidental!
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‘Rashtrayana’ is available on brainded.in – an online arts
collective, founded and curated by Appupen. “Brainded India is my attempt to
build the comic and artistic scene in India that has an agenda and we have done
free work for protest creatives besides running a politically charged series,
‘Dystopian Times’, on the website Newslaundry,” he shares. With more than
60,000 followers on Instagram, Brainded is a unique space for graphic artists
in India.
On freedom of speech and the importance to keep satire alive, he
adds, “From 2014, I have touched on many socio-political issues. While the
freedom to dissent is threatened, as artists we must react to the socio
political scenario since that is our job. Let’s not add a label of activism to
it.” Contrary to belief, Appupen hates superheroes. “Superheroes stand for hero
worship. Captain America, for instance was used as a symbol to recruit more
people for the Army. I enjoy the medium of comics but we need to build
alternative stories with alternative endings.”
Author of four graphic novels, ‘Moonward’ (2009), ‘Legends of
Halahala’ (2012), ‘Aspyrus’ (2014) and ‘Snake and the Lotus’ (2018), Appupen
has set all the books in his mythical dimension called Halahala since 2005 as
it allows him to explore topics that are often not possible in the real world.
In his work, he explores women-centric issues and ecological issues besides the
political ones. His work in painting and comics, especially the wordless
novels, has been showcased in India and overseas. For him, art had always been
an escape from economics – his chosen academic subject. A former advertising
executive and Greenpeace employee, Appupen slowly found his groove in graphics
given his penchant for visual stories.
Growing up in Kerala, he was influenced by Tintin, Asterix and
MAD comics. Later in life, he was mesmerised by the work of the 1920s American
woodcut artist and storyteller, Lynd Ward. His greatest influence though comes
from being raised in Kerala, where politicians and stars are often parodied and
ridiculed with biting sarcasm. Add to that a rich dose of critical thinking via
education from Mary Roy’s (author, Arundhati Roy’s mother) Pallikoodam school
in Kottayam.
Transiting between Bengaluru and his fictional Halahala, Appupen
seems to spend more time in the latter – his parallel universe, often sketching
for hours with “thoughts as characters and the mind as the backdrop”. His
future plans include continuation of the Rashtrayana comic series – one every
year. “It’s a fun project to build on the mythology exercise; not by retelling
them but by creating new ones. We need to create one that resonates with our
‘yug’ or era,” he reasons. Future plans include many stories directed at the
inner child in us all. He explains, “We all intrinsically know what is right or
wrong but we cover it up in layers to protect ourselves. My job as a visual
artist is to peel through those layers.”
When
asked if he likes Goa, he responds, “Goa is like Kerala, without relatives.”
“That’s got to be good,” he adds with a grin.
