''Cheriya Manushyarum Valiya Lokavum'' (''Small Men and the Big World'') is a cartoon by the film director

G. Aravindan Govindan Aravindan (23 January 1935 – 15 March 1991) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, musician, cartoonist, and painter. He was one of the pioneers of parallel cinema in Malayalam. He was known for his unorthodox way of filmma ...

. The serial cartoon was published in the last page of

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

weekly, ''

Mathrubhumi ''Mathrubhumi'' is a Malayalam newspaper that is published from Kerala, India. It was founded by K. P. Kesava Menon, an active volunteer in the Indian independence movement, Indian freedom struggle against the British Raj, British. The word "M ...

'' from 1961 to 1973. CMVLmain

The cartoon dealt with the adventures of the central characters Ramu and Guruji, mingled with political and social satires. Characters in the cartoon literally depicted the socio-political and cultural issues of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

with a very special satiric touch. The series was preceded by two more cartoon series namely ''Ramuvinte Sahasika Yathrakal'' and ''Guruji'' featuring the central characters of ''Cheriya Manushyarum Valiya Lokavum''. The strip split its readers into two equally enthusiastic categories: while many appreciated the strip for its thought-provoking, understated, subtle kind of humour there were as many readers who derided it for not being "funny". The translated version of

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

cartoon animal Talking animals are a common element in mythology and folk tales, children's literature, and modern comic books and animated cartoons. Fictional talking animals often are anthropomorphic, possessing human-like qualities (such as bipedal walkin ...

s was the only other cartoon that this ''Mathrubhumi'' carried at that time. A collected edition of these strips was first published by Bees Books in 1978 and subsequently by

DC books DC Books is a publisher in Kerala publisher of books in Malayalam, and one of the publishers in India . It also operates one of the largest book store chains in India, with a network of over 45 bookshops under the DC Books and Current Books b ...

in 1996. ''Cheriya Manushyarum Valiya Lokavum'' is regarded by many as India's first

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

although the strip does not fall perfectly under the category of graphic novel.

References

External links

Article by Susmesh Chandroth in ''Madhyamam Weekly''
(in Malayalam)

Indian comic strips 1961 comics debuts 1973 comics endings Satirical comics Comics set in India {{comic-strip-stub