Speed cartoon an instant social media hit

Video footage of Varayarangu crosses one million views in five days

July 15, 2019 11:29 pm | Updated 11:29 pm IST - PATHANAMTHITTA

In a unique feat on social media, a video clip on an Indian cartoonist’s performance at a public show has crossed one million hits (views) in five days.

The ambidextrous cartoonist, S. Jithesh, aka Jitheshji, who had set a world record in speed drawing by sketching caricatures of 50 celebrities in just five minutes in 2008, is reportedly the first Indian cartoonist to achieve the feat.

It was a Bangkok-based group, Media Today, that had first uploaded the video footage of the high-speed cartoon stage show Varayarangu of Jithesh held at Changanacherry on its Facebook page on July 7.

The page views crossed one million in the next five days itself.

Many other groups too followed suit and these FB posts too have crossed one million views, besides over half-a-million shares.

Jithesh, 46, is regarded as one the fastest performing cartoonists in the country since he drew 50 world personalities in five minutes at a stage show to pay tributes to his teacher (guru) M.S. Valyathan at Pandalam 11 years ago.

Drawing line sketches has been Jithesh’s forte since childhood and he began staging cartoon shows, christened ‘Varavega Vismayam’, in the 1990s.

Infotainment

Jithesh says it was the late Malayalam poet Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan who inspired him to explore the potential of cartooning as a stage art. That was how he came out with the infotainment cartoon stage show ‘Varayarangu’ in 2008. He later obtained patent and trade mark for Varayarangu.

Basically a pictorial speech, Varayarangu is a blend of poetry, anecdotes, and socio-political satire, effectively utilising the medium of speed drawing.

Jithesh interlaces his brush strokes with interesting anecdotes and draws celebrity caricatures with the accompaniment of captivating background music.

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