Michael
Mili

Born in Assam, Michael went to school at Don Bosco, Guwahati. As a child he drew the way children do — more interested in painting and fine arts than in cartooning.

In class V a quarrel with a classmate, Manmohan Singh Bhanra, changed that. Michael declared he could make funnier faces of people than his friend could, and drew a caricature. His friend encouraged him. A spate of caricatures of teachers and classmates followed.

His first cartoons appeared in 1991 — sketches based on common Assamese jokes given to The Assam Tribune, thirty-six of which ran as a series. He then took his political cartoons to Dhiren Bezbaruah, editor of The Sentinel, who asked him to begin a series.

He was fifteen. In Delhi he met the cartoonist Rajinder Puri, who told him: “At your age, I couldn’t have done half of your cartoons.” At The National Herald, editor Sumer Kaul gave him work on a per-cartoon basis; within a month he was a front-page cartoonist with his own strip, “Such Is Life”.

In 1994 The Sentinel and Target, of the India Today group, both profiled him — described as the youngest professional cartoonist of the country.

Michael’s cartoons and illustrations have been published across sixteen Indian publications, from The Telegraph and The Assam Tribune to Target and Joonombhoomi.

He studied Journalism at Delhi University and later completed an MBA in Human Resources at XLRI Jamshedpur.

Alongside a parallel career in which he has led the people function at IBM, Bosch Global Software, Biocon and Lava International — and now serves as India MD and Global CHRO for a French design multinational — Michael’s practice widened into portraiture, painting and visual storytelling.

A painting series on tribal communities across India: their vibrant culture, traditional attire and rich histories. Selections from the series were published by the Dailyhunt news platform.

A raw sketch series in simple black-and-white lines: living portraits of people whose stories inspire. Forty-two portraits so far, each drawn with bare fingers — no pen, no stylus.

Soul Canvas is preparing for broader public exhibitions, addressed above all to young people — in India, and then internationally.