Opened The Exhibition Of "Pune" 1st.International Cartoon Festival/India,2023

Pune 1st.International Cartoon Festivalwas held on the occasion of 5th May World Cartoonists day

at Balgandharva Art Gallery, Pune by Cartoonists Combine and Yuva Samvad Samajik Sanstha.

It was a three day program which included cartoon exhibition, discussions, demonstrations,

interviews and lectures. More than 250 cartoonists from all over the world have participated

in the event. 800 cartoon entries were received. Out of that only 260 cartoons

were displayed in the exhibition.

Photos from Inauguration of the 1st Pune International Cartoon Festival in India

First Day

The festival was inaugurated by eminent cartoonist and President of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Mr Rajsaheb Thackrey. He said "My hands are eager to draw cartoons everyday but due to busy political career I could not find relaxed time. Then my cartoons find their way through my speech". He has drawn the caricature of Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar which went viral on social media as well as it was the prime news on all news channels.

1) First day second session was started with interview and demonstration of senior cartoonist Prabhakar Wairkar (Mumbai).

2) Second program was a lecture of young cartoonist Gaurav Sarjerao (Mumbai) on 'Digital art, Storyboard and Animation.'

3) Third was a presentation by cartoon historian and eminent cartoonist Prashant Kulkarni (Mumbai) The subject was -the challenges in political cartooning. He said, 'gone are the days when sharp criticism through cartoon was accepted with sportmanship spirit. That was true democracy.'

Second day

The day started with a demo by Umesh Kavle and Vivek Prabhukeluskar.

Savitribai Phule Pune Vidyapeeth has established a cartoon museum. This may be the first one by any University in India. It's curator Dr. Priya Gohad and the brain behind this concept, senior cartoonist Mr Suraj S. K. Shreeram were the guests of second session. They have given the details about its start and it's future plans and appealed to all the cartoonists from India to contribute with their work.

The three day program was sponsered by cartoonist Dhanraj Garad's organisation Yuva Samvad Samajik Sanstha under the guidance of Cartoonists Combine' President Mr Sanjay Mistry and ex-Pressidents Charuhas Pandit and Prashant Kulkarni. Programmes logo was designed by cartoonist Gajanan Ghongade. The team of Yogendra Bhagat, Vishwas Suryawanshi, Kishor Shitole, Atul Purandare has taken great efforts to make this event a grand success.

Mukim Tamboli, Ganesh Bhalerao, Chaitanya Govande, Amit Papal (Pune), Siddheshwar Gajmal (Latur), Arvind Deshpande (Jalna) Suhas Palimkar (Beed), Sharad Mahajan (Thane) were also present.