Sukumar Raychaudhuri’s life can best be described as an archetype of a cartoonist who had moments of high achievement punctuated by long spells of despair. And yet, he never left his goalpost. Instead he held onto the art of cartooning till his last day.
Sukumar, a senior public official had been influenced by the works of Reboti Bhushan, Promotho Samaddar and Saila Chakraborty since he was young. He taught himself the basics of cartooning and soon found his works published alongside veteran cartoonists in Joshtimadhu, Nabokallol, Ultorath, Jalsa, Shankar’s Weekly and Achal Patra. Sukumar was called to draw cartoons for ‘Tirjok’ in Anandabazar Patrika, a slot for pocket cartoons. After the arrival of Chandi Lahiri, who made the slot extremely popular, Sukumar moved to the similar slot called ‘Abyartho’, in the rival paper Yugantar. In 1977-1978, Sukumar drew social awareness cartoons for Doordarshan, for a popular show called Ektu Bhebe Dekhun (Please give it a thought).
But his most laudable imprint is doubtlessly Soros Cartoon, a magazine he founded in 1990. It needed daring, for 1990s was well past the heydays of humour periodicals in Bengal. This was the only magazine providing platform to the ageing cartoonists as well the aspiring ones. Due to lack of funds, Soros Cartoon closed down in the late 1990s. His other major works include Let’s Draw Cartoon – a primer of cartooning, Cartoon Album, Joketoon, Cinetoon – compilations of gags and funnies; and Cartooner Biborton o Dui Banglar Cartoon (The Evolution of the Art of Cartoon in two Bengals).
He succumbed to cancer in 1999.
