One of my favourite things about Google is the Google Doodles! Apart from important days and festivals, the Google doodle pays tribute to the greats in every field and celebrates their contribution to the world.
It celebrated one such person today, the senior and veteran actor and dancer, Zohra Sehgal. Guest artist Parvati Pillai has designed this very dainty and lovely floral doodle which has Ms Sehgal in the centre, wearing a pink saree and floral blouse. She is seen doing a mudra.
The Google doodle is to celebrate one of her noted films, Neecha Nagar. A note by Google described her as “one of the country’s first female actors to truly achieve recognition on the international stage.” It released on this day in the Cannes Film Festival in the year 1946, even going on to win the Palme d’Or prize, which is the highest honour at the Festival de Cannes.
Ms Sehgal attended a very prestigious ballet school in her early 20s in Dresden, Germany. She later toured the world with dancer Uday Shankar. Post the tour, she went on to join the Indian People’s Theatre Association in 1945, where she ventured into acting.
She has featured in some memorable roles in Bollywood films like Dil Se, Hum Dil De Chile Sanam, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Veer Zaara and Cheeni Kum among others. She was last seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali‘s 2007 film, Saawariya. She has gone on to star in many international projects like Bend It Like Beckham, Doctor Who, The Jewel In The Crown, Mind Your Language , among others.
She has gone on to win several accolades in her career, including the Padma Shri in 1998, the Padma Vibhushan in 2010 and the Kalidas Samman in 2001. She died at the age of 102 in 2014.