Aravindan G

G.ARAVINDAN
Govindan Aravindan (born January 21, 1935 in Kottayam — died March 15, 1991 in Trivandrum) who was popularly known as G. Aravindan seized attention of book-loving malayalees by his path-breaking venture in graphic novel- Cheriya Manushyarum Valiya Lokavum . It was the surging 60's and the meek protagonist in the weekly column, RAMU reflected the angst and frustration of the young malayali office-job-seeker. The end of the serial shows Ramu having arrived finally , wading the slimy waters of compromises to shoulder with the coterie of insensitive unsweating men of the society. The decadence had been announced. The aura of simplicity and compassion about this man are ever gone. The story of untold decadence trails to the present.

Then, Aravindan switched arena, to the celluloid. Soon, he became known for his unorthodox way of film-making, changing his cinematic forms consistently and experimenting with story telling without regular narrative styles. A clutch of avante garde films catapulted him as one of the best ever film makers of this country. He had also worked with documentaries and theatre. The present day Malayali knows him more as a film man than the cartoonist with a bend for the caricatures and the public-shy musician that he was.

The Kerala Cartoon Academy pays homage to this illustrious cartoonist through a handful of Aravindan caricatures made by the members. Characters from his epic graphic novel have been given towards the end.

Have a tour :)

Self Caricature by G Aravindan

Cover illustration by Namboothiri


Yesudasan

P V Krishnan


Unnikrishnan

Ajoy Kumar D

T V G Menon



Ratheesh K R

Thomas Antony

Raju Nair


Sageer


Prasannan Anikkad


Hari G


Madoos

Dinraj

K V M Unny

Nishanth

Anuraj

Joy Kulanada

Thommy

Suresh K K

E Suresh

Sudheer Nath

Shiju George

Shaji Malayalapuzha

Prashob

Prashanth A V


Soloman

Naushad

Suman

Karthika Kattanam

Balakrishnan Annat

Jayaraj Vellur

Jairaj

Balu

Harikumar

Sanal Kumar

Basheer

Badusha


Sajjive

Aravindan's RAMU & Others


Ramu


Guruji inspires him intellectually but...



mostly spiritually...


The parents, concened like any...


and Ramu does his part but...


the local postman brings not job offers .....


while Swamy his bench mate for many PSC exams
kills the lingering expectations at the exam hall


Ramu has seen his sister Rema doing these rounds
so many times in the past...


Local boy Abu inspired and soothed Ramu with occasional smokes



when his heartthrob Leela was not around..

The graphic novel is replete with Ramu's brief encounters like this
at small govt. offices with smaller men & women till and even after .....


Ramu flooring his mom with his first pay packet....


The occasiona surprise in the Calutta based Gopi
who introduces Robindra Sangeeth through his Bengali wife

The LIC agent promises a kingdom but fades away midway


To add to the total tragedy, the dancer with the tinsel craving for Kodambakkam and


the bard with pseudo-poetic blabber repeatedly beat the hell
out of Ramu and Guruji
*****************************
Finally the compulsive job-seeker perches in a white collar post.
Ramu's fights end. We see his ascension from
Accountant to
Manager to
Partner to
............

till
we reach the end of the story !



No one has seen Ramu since.