Pencilsion pulled these out on 6 August, believed to be the day Mammootty made his debut.
As a fan of Mammootty, cartoonist Vishnu Madhav, better known as Pencillation, says he wanted to do something unique for the star he grew up loving, so that he could make his 50s in the industry. To celebrate the year. Result? Fifty collectible cards featuring Mammootty as the characters he has known for years.
He got the idea last year when he made 49 cards. “This year, since he completed 50 years in the industry, I added one more. His first role was in 1971 as a junior artist,” says Vishnu.
He wanted the card as a fan tribute to the actor, and also for fans who want collectibles. Creating these is also his way of fulfilling his childhood dream, “When I was a kid, we used to consume pop culture through cinema, not from comics as much as it is now or as it has been in the West. Is. In those days we didn’t have access to regional content—cinema or otherwise. It’s something that many of us will relate to.”
One face of the card contains a caricature of the character while the other side bears the name of the film, director, writer, producer and a short description. It was not easy for Vishnu to choose the characters. “Mammooka has the potential to completely transform for every role. I didn’t go only with hit films, although there is Chandu from here too oru vadakkan heroine or Sethurama Iyer Oru CBI Diary Kurippu. There are some movies which didn’t do very well but their character was different. puthan pannam Nityananda Shenoy.” He says, regretfully, that he has missed some classics like thaniyavartanam “It’s a big miss,” Bala Gopalan, who had bought the cards pointed it out.
The process was hard work and intense research. “I don’t plan my projects in advance, each one has been spontaneous and such was the case. It was four-five days of hectic, sleepless and rest-deprived hard work – selecting and caricaturing films/characters. Research was difficult, it was not easy to get reliable information. “I had to find movies, descriptions and in some cases, descriptions of old movies, the details are sketches. So I ended up watching the movies to check the title cards and get the facts right.”
Equally a driving force has been his friend Uttara Raj, “He is also a staunch Mammootty fan.” It was Uthara who inspired him to move on when he was not sure whether the idea would work or not. Vishnu announced the cards on 6 August, believed to be the day Mammootty completed 50 years of his debut.
“It took some effort to get it printed too. I kept caricature and text separately, they had to be reconciled during printing. After printing a few copies we realized that the two did not match in some cards. Then they all had to be rebuilt. Even my parents got their hands on the packing when they realized I wouldn’t finish packing in time to place the order! The card costs ₹350 per pack.
It is not just Mammootty fans, even Mohanlal fans have bought these cards and they have asked Vishnu if he can do the same for Mohanlal. “Why not? I am thinking of a series, maybe a regional collection of our South Indian stars. This will be the first time and people can adopt it.”
An independent cartoonist, Vishnu posts cartoons (including social and political satire) on his social media.
(His Instagram handle is @pencilashan, for inquiries mail to pencilshan@gmail.com)
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