Beyond the Laugh Lines

He was a legendary cartoonist,and much more than that. In November 2005,I signed up with Mario and his wife,Habiba,to do a book on him — a serious book,not just a simple compilation of his works. I looked for Mario’s creations from every possible source,from childhood friends,personal collectors,the various publications he contributed to,and the murals in Mumbai (some of which are lost now).

A year later,we realised that we had amassed about 8,000 scanned drawings. They revealed the versatility of the man. Though the artists’ community did not consider Mario to be one of them,that did not affect his creative urges,which found expression in colour,pen-and-ink and charcoal. His range of styles and command over different mediums,made him a bit of an enigma. But the cartoonist/illustrator’s tag stuck,limiting people’s appreciation to “just a few laughs”.

The five-book series that I went on to do with him — Mario’s Best Cartoons Book I and II ,Bombay,Goa and Travels — was an attempt to capture the Mario Miranda legacy. The quintessential Mario shines through these books. For instance,the Goa he drew brimmed over with both history and contemporary life,its culture steeped in the long Portuguese association spanning centuries. Mario may have consciously eschewed political cartoons,but his role as a social historian is undeniable.

He was a widely travelled man,having visited 22 countries. He had been to all the cities of the world where art mattered — Paris,Sydney,East Berlin (behind the Iron Curtain at the time),London and Tel Aviv. Wherever he went (mostly as a guest of the governments of those countries),he interacted with fellow cartoonists,some of whom were legends. In Santa Rosa,a quaint little town in California,he met Charles M. Schulz. In London,he met the British artist Ronald Searle whom he had once considered his role model and who remained his favourite cartoonist of all time.

Wherever he went,he left his mark,and brought home an enviable collection of his own observations that delighted art lovers as well as the layman. The index of the Travels lists Paris,San Francisco,New York,Washington,Salvador da Bahia and Jerusalem with Yugoslavia,Spain,Macau,England and Portugal as his happy hunting grounds. In 1979,he spent two wonderful months in Germany. He came back with brilliant images of the Hamburg harbour,a woman guard,Hamburg’s stripping clubs,sex shops,beer halls and transvestite shows,apart from impressions of social life there. Similarly,four years ago,he went to Spain and came back with a bag full of drawings.

Bombay,seen through Mario’s eyes,is at one level cosmopolitan,symbolising the good things in life,and at another level,a nightmare with its acute space crunch and sundry other civic woes. But trust Mario to make things palatable,and even captivating,with his razor-sharp wit and sarcasm. Even when Mario was scathing,he was endearing,and that made him special.

After a prolific creative phase in Mumbai,when he created endearing characters like Miss Fonseca,BC Bundaldass,Miss Nimbupani,Mario went back to Goa to live in his 17th century ancestral mansion,far away from the din and bustle of a megalopolis. Unlike Mumbai,Goa is a sleepy place with its own languid pace of life. But Mario was hardly indulging in a retired life. He was doing a lot of interesting work apart from contributing to newspapers,and designing calendars and logos. The quality of work,compared to his earlier drawings,may have been less impressive,but it kept him busy.

The last two years turned out to be very difficult. He was already suffering from Parkinson’s disease,and it had gone from bad to worse. But the Mario spirit was indomitable. He couldn’t give up drawing. Often the results failed to impress him,but Mario hated the idea of losing control over his lines.

While working on the book Mario de Miranda,I decided to make a documentary on him. I shot for about six months,interviewing him,his family and friends. The film provides a generous glimpse into the master craftsman’s ways of going about his work: the way he began a drawing,and how he developed it. I edited the footage into a twelve-and-a-half minute film,which was screened at the Comic Con festival in Mumbai. At the festival,we also released his latest book,The Life of Mario: 1951,a graphic diary of Mario’s life in 1951 as a 25-year-old young man. It is also a social history of Goa,filled with quirky characters and busy landscapes.

His diaries are a treasure trove of cities,situations and characters. He had been maintaining diaries since the age of 10. If 1951 is well-received,our publishing house (Architecture Autonomous) plans to bring out more diaries,which will be important material for those who want to track how Mario’s style evolved. Mario was actively involved in the publication of his books. He used to dream of recreating and printing his sketch book German in Wintertime (1979). This was not possible due to his ill-health.

He was a globe-trotter,at home in different countries and cultures. But it’s his love affair with Goa that lasted till the end. Those who spotted him in a wheelchair on December 8,two days before he passed away,enjoying a live band along with wife Habiba,can vouch for that.

(Gerard da Cunha is a Goa-based architect,and publisher)As told to Alaka Sahani