Based in Chennai, an engineer by profession and cartoonist cum autograph collector by passion

Prakash Natarajan

Based in Chennai, an engineer by profession and cartoonist cum autograph collector by passion. He collects autographs of the personalities on their caricature drawn by him, 99 percent of his collection is collected by him in person.

1)When did you start collecting autographs?

      Last 20 years.

 

2) How did you take up philography as a hobby?

    It was during my college days when I got an appointment  to meet an actor   whom I really wanted to     meet and take an autograph of. I     wanted to take his photograph but didn’t get any. That time there     wasn’t any internet, we had to take it through the magazines. I used to     draw and I drew his caricature     to take his autograph on that. Then I started to do that only, I always drew the caricatures of the     people     and took it along with me to take their autograph on that. I then discontinued and started it     again after getting encouragement from     somebody to draw and that kept the artist in me and my art     alive.

 

3) Did he like his caricature?

    Yes, he did.

    99% of the autographs which I have collected are all in-person.

 

4) How did you make it possible? It means you have travelled a lot.

    Mostly I have collected all, around 99% of my autographs in my city, Chennai only. Have travelled     for a few autographs only.

 

5) Has it ever happened that you were like, “ I will travel travel to take this autograph and let me       do it” ?

    Yes.  I wanted to travel to Pune but didn’t get an appointment with RK Laxman to take his     autograph. It was my dream which didn’t     come true as later he passed away. Being a published     cartoonist myself, I want to have an art collection and for me it’s a dream to have     the same.

 

6) How do you see the selfies getting popular today?

    See, things and trends keep changing like DVD’s, CD’s etc but a hand-written something from a celebrity is always special.

 

7)Have you ever sold any of your collection?

    I have never done that. I have never sold or purchased any. For me, its close to my heart, have never     attached any monetary value to it.     Many people do it but that’s their idea. My idea is to just keep it     for my happiness.

 

8) Do you think it’s a bad idea to buy an autograph?

    No I think its ok. The only one which I want to buy is that of RK. Laxman’s. He is a guru for the     cartoonist in me.

 

9) How should one start collecting autographs?

    Don’t start by targeting big celebs because the chances are you might fail and that might demotivate you. Hence its always good to start     small, to tap the local real heroes around you. As your collection will grow, you will get motivated to reach the bigger ones.

10) After Covid, will you want to go back to meeting people to take their autographs or continue     connecting with them  digitally.     

       I will want to go back to my old style of meeting them.

 

11) How should one ensure the freshness of the paper of the autographs?

There are chemically treated papers available in the market which doesn’t allow it to go bad so one can easily avail it. There are other ways too.