Ekanath Padmanabhan Unny is an Indian

political cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or current ...

. He was born in

Palakkad Palakkad (), Renaming of cities in India, also known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery, is a city and a municipality in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of P ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, 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 ...

. He studied physics at a university in Kerala. His first cartoon was published in ''

Shankar's Weekly ''Shankar's Weekly'' was an Indian satirical magazine published between 1948 and 1975. It was founded and run by Keshav Shankar Pillai, a pioneering political cartoonist. The magazine has been compared to the UK's '' Punch''. The weekly print ...

'' in 1973. Upon sending some cartoons to ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

,'' the editor Gopalan Kasturi offered him to join full-time. Unny left his job as a bank official to start his career as a professional cartoonist with ''The Hindu'' in 1977, where he spent 12 years learning about journalism from Kasturi. After leaving ''The Hindu'' in 1989, he moved to Delhi and worked with the ''Sunday Mail'' where he experimented with different forms of cartooning – pocket and editorial, as well as started working as a graphic editor. Subsequently, he moved to ''

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. Owned by The Times Group, ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961 and it is sold in all major cities in India. As of 2012, it is the world's secon ...

.'' He is currently the Chief Political Cartoonist with ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

,'' in which his editorial strip, ''Business as Usual,'' appears daily. He has drawn and written graphic novels in

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

and a travel book on Kerala, ''Spices & Souls: A Doodler's Journey Through Kerala''. He is said to have been doing graphic shorts in Malayalam literary journals as early as the 1990s. He has also written ''Santa and the Scribes: The Making of Fort Kochi'', which was published in 2014. A recurring character who features in his cartoons is a bespectacled young boy who makes statements too mature for his years. This character was developed during his time at ''Sunday Mail'' and resumed when he moved to ''The Indian Express.'' Unny avoids drawing cartoons about religion, claiming to have no knowledge about the subject. Cartoonists who had an influence on him include

R. K. Laxman Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman ''Pg. 11 in the source says that Laxman & his brother Narayan were Tamil Iyer Brahmins.'' (24 October 1921 – 26 January 2015) was an Indian cartoonist, illustrator, and humorist. He was best known for his creat ...

, K. Shankar Pillai,

O. V. Vijayan Ottupulackal Velukkuty Vijayan (2 July 1930 – 30 March 2005), commonly known as O. V. Vijayan, was an Indian author and cartoonist, who was an important figure in modern Malayalam language literature. Best known for his first novel '' Khasakk ...

Abu Abraham Attupurathu Mathew Abraham (11 June 1924 – 1 December 2002), pen name ''Abu'', was an Indian cartoonist, journalist, and author. In a career spanning 40 years, Abu Abraham worked for various national and international newspapers including ''Th ...

and

Rajinder Puri Rajinder PuriPersonal bloRajinder Puri/ref> (1934–2015), was an Indian cartoonist, veteran columnist and political activist. He was on the staff of The ''Hindustan Times'' and '' The Statesman'' as a cartoonist and writer. Later, his column a ...

Books

Spices and Souls

Business as Usual
* Santa and the Scribes: The Making of Fort Kochi * ''RK Laxman: Back with a Punch''

References

;Sources

People from Palakkad district Indian editorial cartoonists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Indian Express Limited people Writers from Kerala {{cartoonist-stub