At Balewadi, a museum dedicated to R K Laxman

PUNE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a museum-cum-art gallery dedicated to veteran cartoonist

R K Laxman

and his brother, writer

R K Narayan

. The Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) project, initiated in 2016, is in Balewadi.

The art gallery has two automated rooms, one with information about a day in the life of R K Laxman and the other dedicated to nine locations of Malgudi in miniature from Malgudi Days, a collection of short stories by R K Narayan.

The famed cartoonist’s story, narrated from the point of a common man, gives an overview about how he built his career from childhood. The walls have been decorated with his cartoons.

A walk-through in the gallery ends in a hologram of the Common Man. Actor Boman Irani did the voice-over for the guided tour in English while Dilip Prabhawalkar has done it in Marathi.

Usha Laxman

, daughter-in-law of R K Laxman, who was instrumental in building this facility, said, “We made this gallery like an institution and plan to tie up with various universities. It will be an open laboratory for students and artists.”

Mayor

Murlidhar Mohol

said some legends guide us towards betterment. “They inspire us to do good work and play a key role in social well-being. R K Laxman was one such legend. An art gallery dedicated to his works will show future generations a path,” he added.


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