Legendary Bengali Cartoonist Narayan Debnath — Creator Of ‘Bantul The Great’, ‘Handa Bhonda’ & ‘Nonte Phonte’ — Passes Away

Kolkata: Legendary Bengali cartoonist and Padma Shri awardee Narayan Debnath passed away here on Tuesday morning. He was 96.

Debnath created some of the immortal cartoon characters for Bengali readers such as ‘Bantul the Great’, ‘Handa Bhonda’ and ‘Nonte Fonte’, entertaining children and adults alike for decades.

He was conferred with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2013 and the Padma Shri in 2021.

Debnath passed away at a South Kolkata nursing home. He was suffering from age-related ailments, including kidney and heart problems. The state government was bearing the cost of his treatment.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was personally monitoring Debanath’s health, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and scores of others condoled his death.

Debnath was born in 1925 in Shibpur and was trained at the Government Art College.