The little monster loved by all

With his impish pranks and innocent retorts, Unnikkuttan, the cartoon character of Toms, has been a source of delight to both children and elders alike for years now. The cartoon strip narrates the mischievous antics of the six-year-old, a desi Dennis the Menace, who constantly puts his parents and teachers in a spot. It is unbelievable to think that the cartoon, which became a craze, and inspired several others in its genre, has completed 25 years.

The cartoonist, Toms, shared his happiness at the success of his character. A host of events were held to mark the silver jubilee year of Unnikkuttan. Kerala Cartoon Academy joined hands with Orthic Creative Center and Toms Comics to organised an event in Kochi.

“Unnikkuttan is my best-loved cartoon character. Though, over the years, I have created many characters, Unnikkuttan has remained the most endearing of them all,” says the cartoonist, revealing that the idea for the character came from his elder daughter Molly’s son whose nickname is Unnikkuttan.

“My grandson was a prankster, who used to threaten his mother that he would divorce her if she scolded him,” recollects the veteran cartoonist fondly.

He adds that the ‘original’ Unnikkuttan is now all grown up and likes the cartoon character immensely.

As a token of appreciation to the cartoonist who made the character a household name, animated video CDs of Unnikkuttan were also launched on the occasion. Unnikkuttan CDs marketed by Toms Comics, available in Malayalam, English, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada languages, narrates a humorous episode when Unnikkuttan gets kidnapped. The English version of the collection was also launched during the occasion.

The veteran cartoonist, whose cartoon strips appeared on the back pages of weeklies like Malayala Manorama and Kerala Kaumudi, has given birth to several popular characters like Boban and Molly, Kunchukurup, Hippi, panchayat president Chettan and many others.

Through the characters, the cartoonist had  mocked at the frills and foibles of the upper class, the corrupt in government and so on. Toms says that he is content with the characters he has created so far, and won’t be coming up with any more.