1 MINUTE PLEASE!

Cartoon: Nasreen Sultana Mitu

Mehedi Haque, the executive editor of the country's age old satire magazine UNMAD, completed his graduation in Urban and Regional Planning, but he chose to be a cartoonist instead. “My parents were incredibly supportive of my passion which gave me the confidence to pursue my dream,” says the young cartoonist. He has been drawing cartoons for over a decade now and bagged many national and international awards. Be it a political cartoon, a children's book illustration or a comic book design, Haque has proven his worth every time. Since 2013, he has been involved with the Bangladesh Cartoonist Association, which recently organised a three-day long cartoon exhibition at Drik Gallery, and he even has a cartoon series called Dhaka Comics.

Favourite Childhood Comic Character
There were a plenty of them. Starting from Ninja Turtles, Russell Manning's Tarzan, Calvin and Hobbes, Marvels' Hell Boy to Tintin and Asterix; each one of them is a favourite.

Inspiration
Ahsan Habib

Total Number of Political Cartoons Drawn by You
Around 3,500

Biggest Challenge While Drawing a Political Caricature
Sometimes people here fail to understand that the portrayal in a political caricature is not derogatory, rather it's an effort to make people learn about the politics in an easy, ironic and funny method. While in other parts of the world, politicians seem quite receptive towards this art form, in this part of the world political cartoons leave many politicians miffed and offended in some cases.

Other Than Being a Cartoonist
An urban planner, a writer and a reader.

Qualities a Cartoonist Must Have
For a cartoonist it's okay to have poor drawing skills but it's a crime not to have a good sense of humour. The quality of being able to laugh and bring laughter out of people is a must-have. Secondly, you have to be updated and well-informed of what is happening around, so reading a lot and having good general knowledge is very necessary.

A Dream Yet To Be Fulfilled
We have an illustrators' forum called AKANTIS that believes in the formula 'anyone can draw'. I dream to develop it to an institute dedicated for cartoons, comics and different forms of graphic language. 

— Fayeka Zabeen Siddiqua