Google Doodle Celebrates Veteran Indian filmmaker V. Shantaram on his 116th birth anniversary:
Google on Saturday paid tribute to veteran Indian filmmaker V. Shantaram with a doodle on his 116th birthday. Widely hailed as one of the pioneers of Indian cinema, Shantaram was a successful director, actor and producer who played a vital role in introducing sound and colour to the Indian cinema.
Google doodle shows protagonists from Shantaram’s Amar Bhoopali (1951), a true story of a cow herder with a gift for poetry, set in the days of the Maratha Confederacy; Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (1955), a film about love and classical Indian dance, which was among the first in India to use technicolor; and Do Aankhen Baara Haath (1957), which is the story of a jail warden who tries to reform dangerous prisoners.
The doodle by Sukanto Debnath celebrates Shantaram’s lasting impact on Indian cinema.
Even early in his career, Shantaram was known for selecting movies with strong female characters. His film Kunku (Marathi), based on a successful novel, told the story of a young girl who, when forced to marry an ageing man, braves social ridicule by refusing his demands to consummate the marriage. His next film Manoos (Marathi) featured the love story of a police officer and a prostitute.
He was one of the early filmmakers to realize the efficacy of the film medium as an instrument of social change and used it successfully to advocate humanism on one hand and expose bigotry and injustice on the other.
Shantaram was conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1985 and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1992.
He died on 30 October 1990 in Mumbai. The V. Shantaram Award was constituted by Central Government and Maharashtra State Government in his honour.
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