DCP Bhattacharya – an officer and a draftsman

If you ask Dyutiman Bhattacharya if he is a cartoonist turned policeman or vice versa, he will firmly tell you that he is the elder – a cartoonist first.

“The police are just my job, caricature is my passion,” said Mr Bhattacharya, 47, an Indian police officer currently deputy police commissioner in Howrah. The hindu, when asked how he reconciles the two avatars. “There are surgeons who play the violin – would you ask them the same question? He then adds: “A policeman is usually at the reception of cartoons. I turned the tables.

Mr. Bhattacharya – the cartoonist, that is – is a busy man these days. It is an integral part of the very first month-long Cartoon Mela in Kolkata, run by a bookstore called Read Bengali Books in South Kolkata. The festival began on December 5 and is hosted by the Cartoon Dol, a group of veteran cartoonists from the city.

Mr Bhattacharya, who joined the group about a year ago, spends most of his evening these days at the boutique, doing live cartoons and interacting with visitors and aspiring cartoonists. Along with the cartoon coasters and coffee mugs, the store also has a 2022 desk calendar that features caricatures made by him.

“The idea is to show people that cartoons shouldn’t be limited to newspapers. I like to do caricatures on the spot of the people I meet. My pet cats and dogs are featured in most of my cartoons. I also like to do celebrity caricatures, ”he says.

Mr. Bhattacharya, a geography graduate who did various odd jobs – such as teaching in schools and colleges and also working as a registration officer – before joining the police department, is a self-taught artist whose inspirations include RK Laxman , Mario Miranda and Bud Blake. He was introduced to the cartoon world by RK Laxman, thanks to the series Malgoudi days on Doordarshan, when he found himself “mesmerized” by the seasoned blows.

“I kept changing jobs to improve my professional profile, but I always kept my passions like comics, writing and painting alive. I always take a little art book and colors with me wherever I go. I continue to draw between tasks. No job is so painful that you can’t pursue your hobbies, ”says Mr Bhattacharya, who is also an amateur painter – he recently sold all of his 22 works at an exhibition in Howrah – and a novelist and has a column on the police in a reputable Bengali periodical.

When asked if he finds society more intolerant of humor these days, he replied, “Yes, the world is going through a phase of intolerance. But that too will pass.

He and the Cartoon Dol – which includes well-known names like Debasish Deb, Uday Deb, Kallol Majumder and Rituparno Basu – now plan to institutionalize the Cartoon Mela by making it an annual event and bringing it to other cities. of West Bengal every alternate year. “Next year we will move to Burdwan, in 2023 we will come back to Kolkata, in 2024 we will move to another city – this is how we plan it,” Bhattacharya said.