Dyutiman Bhattacharya, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer by profession and a cartoonist by passion, released his first cartoon calendar, Pulish Icons, on November 20. Artist Aditya Basak unveiled the calendar at Tribe Cafe, Golpark, on the occasion of Bengali cartoons’ 150th year celebration.
“People ask a lot of questions — if not police, then what? I say, if not police, then I’d be a cartoonist,” said Bhattacharya, the deputy commissioner of police (HQ) in Howrah who has cultivated his love for cartooning since childhood.
Bhattacharya is a self-taught artist who also likes to call himself ‘policewala cartoonist’. He is also a writer, book illustrator, graphic novelist, wildlife photographer, actor, football fanatic and long-distance runner. His artworks depict fine composition of visuals, blended well with humour and irony.
This year marks the 150th year of Bengali cartoons since it was first published in a newspaper in 1872. Several cartoonists and caricaturists like Gaganendranath Tagore, Prafulla Chandra Lahiri, Pramatha Samadder, and Reboti Bhushan Ghosh have created some of the finest Bengali cartoons in the past. This is what drove Bhattacharya with the idea to pay tribute and celebrate 150 years of Bengali cartoons through his newly released cartoon calendar.
“Generally in cartoons, police are made a laughing stock. But there are many other aspects of police that can be highlighted in cartoons. That was the thing that charged me with this calendar,” he said on his inspiration behind creating the Pulish Icons calendar.
The Pulish Icons calendar portrays some of the iconic Bengali movie characters and architecture. From depicting characters like Uttam Kumar as sub-Inspector Tinkari Haldar from the film Thana Theke Aschi (1965) to places like Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar, the visuals reflect Bhattacharya’s own life experiences.
The Pulish Icons cartoon calendar is available at Tribe Cafe in Golpark, and Read Bengali bookstore on Sardar Sankar Road.