KOCHI: 651 exquisite caricatures in a matter of 12 hours... If that is not fast, seriously what is?! Sajjive Balakrishnan, an IT-department official by profession, and a cartoontist by passion, is now also the fastest caricaturist in the country. His marathon effort, ‘Uthradappachil’, a spot caricature session that saw the maverick churn out 651 caricatures in the span of half a day, has been now formally included in the prestigious Limca Book of Records.On August 22, 2010, Sajjive started the novel session organised by the Kerala Cartoon Academy (KCA) at the Thrikkakara temple premises, with his first caricature being that of his son Sidhharth. Titled ‘Uthradappachil’ with reference to the shopping spree that characterizes Onam eve in Kerala, Sajjive concluded the marathon series after 12 hours, with the final caricature of his wife Lekha R Nair.Excise Minister K Babu, MLA Benny Behanan, senior actor Janardhanan, Vinu Mohan, Ponnamma Babu, fellow cartoonists like Yesudasan and Toms were among those Sajjive captured with breathtaking speed on canvas. The oldest caricature was apparently that of an 85-year old woman and the youngest was that of a two-month old infant, his own grandson Yesudas.Sajjive, who is the secretary of the KCA, had completed his 651 caricatures on the day at a marvellous rate of 66.35 seconds per caricature. With the effect, ‘Uthradappachil’ became the biggest such effort of the Academy.Though without any formal art training, Sajjive has been garnering praise for his penetrative and quirky sketches since college days. The roly-poly Law graduate never let his passion wane and today is literally a heavyweight in the world of cartoonists. He has won laurels aplenty for his exquistie work, including the first John Abraham Award in Cartooning (1988).
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