Why Are The Autos Of Madurai Decorated With Mickey Mouse?

Madurai sure loves its Mickeys! Paintings of Mickey Mouse apparently decorate at least 60 to 70 percent of Madurai’s many auto rickshaws. Kassia and Grant who run Dear, a Delhi-based content and film studio, decided to get to the bottom of this miraculously strange Mickey Mouse mystery. How did Mr. Mickey manage to endear himself to so many of Madurai’s auto drivers?

As Grant explains it each Mickey Mouse has a unique appearance, “Some red, some blue, some wearing hats, all kinds of cool interpretations of the character. I took some pictures and thought that it might be an interesting topic to explore further at some point.”

Upon revisiting Madurai in 2016 the Delhi-based duo made a short flick on the Mickeys of Madurai to flesh out how this tradition of painting Mickey Mouse on autos came about. “We spent a few days going around the city talking to different auto drivers and found out that this painter Mani is responsible for a lot of the Mickeys in Madurai. We spent a lot of time with Mani and had him paint the title of the film in Tamil (Who Is Mickey).”

Mani is an old Tamil man who has been painting auto designs since he was a child; one can ascertain this just by watching how deftly and quickly his paint strokes form a customised Mickey. Mani comments in the film, “When I tried it (paint the cartoon of Mickey Mouse) there was a very good response from my clients...so I continued to paint it.”

From then on the auto drivers of Madurai have happily purchased their personalised Mickeys from Mani, some for religious reasons, some because they love the illustration and others because it seems Mickey Mouse is good for business.

One driver in the film says, “The auto looks nice so it’s something to cast away the evil eye.” Mani explains, “There is a connection between a Tamil God and Mickey...the God’s name is Vinayakar, and this rat is the vehicle of Vinayakar.”

However, the appreciation for Mickey extends beyond Hinduism. One driver comments in the film that just last year alone around 500 schoolchildren have told him they liked his Mickey. The school children he picks up and drops off everyday say things like “This is the best Mickey Mouse!” or “I’ll only ride in an auto with a Mickey Mouse!”. The man says happily, “I’ve gotten such rides because of this painting!”

Currently, Mani paints around three to four Mickeys a week. Somehow it’s comforting that a bunch of middle-aged auto drivers enjoy the presence of Mickey Mouse. To view Dear’s short film on this unlikely story click here.