Narayan Debnath, the Bengali cartoonist, illustrator, writer and comics artist, died at a nursing home in South Kolkata on Tuesday morning, following a prolonged illness. He was 96.
Debnath, who was admitted to the hospital on December 24, was on ventilator support and died at 10.15 am on Tuesday, as per the official hospital report. He had suffered kidney and heart-related ailments.
Born in Shibpur, Howrah, the late cartoonist had begun his career freelancing for advertisement agencies creating movie slides and logos, after discontinuing college in his final year.
Debnath was introduced to the publishing house Dev Sahitya Kutir, in 1950, through a friend. He went on to illustrate a number of children’s books from 1950 to 1961.
He rose to popularity once he started his journey as a comics artist in 1962, with black-and-white pencil sketches of Handa Bhonda for the children’s magazine Shuktara. He moved on to creating his first sketches in colour for the famous comic strip and book, Bantul The Great, in 1965 and then, Nonte Phonte in 1969. These comics were later adapted for Bengali television under the same names and continue to be aired till date.
Debnath created over 2000 illustrations through his 60-year career, including Rabi Chobi (1961) about the childhood days of Rabindranath Tagore; Rajar Raja/Chobite Vivekananda (1962) that recreates the life of Swami Vivekananda; and Chitre Durgeshnandini (1962), which re-imagines Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay’s novel Durgeshnandini.
In 2021, the Indian government awarded Debnath with the fourth-highest civilian award, the Padma Shri. He is also the first and only comics artist in the country to receive a D Litt degree. Other awards bestowed on him include the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Banga Bibhusan.
Several actors, singers, politicians, authors, athletes, and the Indian Institute of Cartoonists paid their tributes to Debnath following his demise.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote, “Extremely sad that the noted litterateur, illustrator, cartoonist, and creator of some immortal characters for children’s world, Narayan Debnath is no more. He had created Bantul the Great, Handa Bhonda, Nonte Fonte, figures that have been etched in our hearts for decades.”
“We were proud to bestow upon him Bengal’s highest award Banga Bibhusan in 2013. His passing away is certainly an immeasurable loss to the world of literary creativity and comics. My deepest condolences to his family, friends, readers and countless fans and followers,” she further added.
Bengali actor Jeet said, “He will be in our hearts for generations to come with his legendary characters that are an irreplaceable part of our childhood. Narayan Debnath, rest in peace sir. My deepest condolences to his close ones.”
Actor Biswanath Basu took to social media to share his experience of meeting Debnath. He recalled how Debnath had told him that he would forget why he went to the market and come back home to start drawing. “You will always be remembered. I can never forget you because forgetting you will be like forgetting Bengali literature, Bengali cartoon, ignoring a Bengali life. I will try my best to leave you among the children,” he added.
“We had such a superhero within our reach, but our focus is only on Marvel, DC Comics. Narayan Debnath was actually the superhero of Bengal. Bengali and Indian literature will surely remember him,” wrote singer Sahana Bajpaie.
Recommended
Others who shared their condolences on social media included athlete Joydeep Karmakar, singers Shilajit and Anupam Roy, and actor Joyjeet Banerjee.
Debnath is survived by his two sons, a daughter and a granddaughter.