Sunaparanta – Goa Centre for the Arts – a not for profit educative initiative of Dattaraj V. Salgaocar in association with Literature Live! organized the first ever Sunaparanta Mario Miranda Cartoon Festival in Goa on the 4th and 5th of May, 2013. The festival directors were Mr Anil Dharker and Ms Amy Fernandes.
Dedicated to the memory of Mario Miranda, who was awarded the Padma Vibushan and was indisputably one of India's greatest cartoonists and a much loved figure in Goa, the festival featured India's leading cartoonists Ravi Shankar (formerly of India Today and Executive Editor of the New Indian Express), C P Unny (Indian Express), Keshav (Hindu), Hemant Morparia (Mumbai Mirror), V.G. Narendra (Managing Trustee - Indian Institute of Cartoonists) and Gujjarappa B G. Also on the panel were Malavika Sangghvi (Columnist with Mid Day), Abhay Sardessai (Editor of Art India), the people behind the Zuzu campaign - Prakash Varma and Rajiv Rao and Farzana Contractor (Editor – Upper Crust).
The festival opened on the 4th of May with a ‘Tiatr’ performance, staged by Goa’s leading Tiatrist Prince Jacob and his troupe followed by the keynote speech on Lack of Humour in Indian Public Life by the Editorial Chairman of the Outlook Group, Mr Vinod Mehta.
5th of May was dedicated to lively discussions on various topics such as Drawing the line between funny and provocative, The art of caricature, Can cartooning be elevated to the position of Art?, The art of political cartooning and How the Zuzus came to life
The festival had its closing function at the historic Reis Magos Fort, with a tribute to Mario Miranda by Dattaraj Salgaocar, Gerard Da Cunha, Farzana Contractor, Vinod Mehta and Anil Dharker. The Honourable Governor of Goa Shri Bharat Vir Wanchoo was the Chief Guest for the evening.
On display at the Sunaparanta – Goa Centre for the Arts Gallery was a wonderful Retrospective of Mario Miranda, R K Laxman's hitherto unseen doodles and an exhibition of the works of the 6 cartoonists.
Seen attending the festival were Rishaad Miranda, son of Mario Miranda, Padma Shri Writer Maria Aurora Couto, Attorney General of Goa Sushant Nadkarni, Dean Menezes – Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany and Supriya Menezes, Writers Damodar Mauzo, Margaret Mascarenhas, Goan Cartoonist Alexyz, Jitender Bhargava, Former Executive Director of Air India, Theatre person Arundhati Chattopadhyaya amongst others.
