Naren Ray (1940[1] – 24 July 2003) better known as Sufi, was an Indian cartoonist with a career spanning nearly five decades, during which time he published political as well as children's cartoons in prominent Bengali magazines and newspapers.

[5] While he offered private tuition to sponsor his reading habits and was also member of local libraries, he mostly borrowed books from acquaintances, finishing up to three a day.

During his school days he and his mates from a library decided to publish a handwritten magazine, Koishorok.

While he produced drawings and sketches for the periodical, fellow Shibpur resident and comic strip artist Narayan Debnath created the cover.

[4] He and Sufi would end up working with the same publishing house Deb Sahitya Kutir and Jugantar newspaper.

During this time, he followed the cartoon and comic columns in papers and periodicals including Jastimadhu, SachitraBharat, Achalpatra and Shonibaarer Chithi and took notice of the sarcasm and irony employed by the cartoonists of the day, namely Shaila Chakraborty, Rebatibhusan, Promoth Samadder etc.

[3] The popular sports magazines of the day, Gorer Maath and Stadium, were among the first places to publish his cartoons.

One of his comic series was Raja (the detective kid) and Bagha (his dog) that was published in Kishore Bharati magazine.

One of the proprietors of the paper, Arun Roy, became a mentor who encouraged him to proceed with political cartoons.

[1] During the 1960s, a women's magazine named Mohila was run from north Kolkata by Basanta Kumar Chattopadhyay.

When he started drawing for the Communist party vehicle Ganashakti, he was advised by the editor to take the pen name of Sufi, associating him with asceticism and purity.

The magazine published serial strips from cartoonists including Sufi, Narayan Debnath, Shaila Chakraborty, Chandi Lahiri and Mayukh Choudhury.

In 1995, Sufi and his fellow political cartoonist Amal Roy published a brochure full of cartoon and insights, which was helped by The Lake Town Book Fair Committee.

[9] He was usually a freelancer although he did draw on a regular basis for Basumati and Jugantar and publishing houses including Deb Sahitya Kutir.

His friends Shantipriyo Bandopadhyay and Amal Roy described him as a kind, humble and philanthropic person, a true gentleman.

Posthumously he has been favourably reviewed by his surviving peers as well as the media and is widely considered a formidable figure of cartoon and caricature in Bengali.

[4][7] During his last days, he expressed the desire of being able to make an animation film, although at the same time confessing that such an exercise was an impossible venture for him.