After R. K. Laxman, the name which denotes ‘caricature drawing and cartoons in live events’ in the Indian news and media business is Mario Miranda. A cartoonist, illustrator and artist by profession, Mario Miranda was well known for his spectacular art for The Times of India and The Illustrated Weekly of India.
Today on the auspicious occasion of the birth anniversary of the legendary cartoonist, Google honoured Mario Miranda with a doodle of his style of cartoon and thus celebrated his 90th birthday.
Miranda, who was born on 2 May, 1926 in the Portuguese province of India (now Daman), was known for his real life cartoons which depicted a pool of emotions, everyday activities and candid events of daily life of ordinary citizens. Based primarily on the bustling cityscape of Mumbai, his work often featured complex, multi-layered scenes. His drawings consisted a number of people of varied backgrounds. In simple words, his drawings often could be explained as if the busy city life was just stopped suddenly and whatever was there in the city was put on paper.
Most of his drawings depicted just candid shots like public places, street corners, food joints or recreational spots like parks or beach side with people of all backgrounds doing some or the other activity. There were a bunch of people in his every drawing yet every individual had his/her own identity and recognition in the drawing. Apart from that, his drawing conveyed simple emotions like love, anger, humour and so on. Mostly, the scenes were based on action -reaction principle as various characters reacted to various instances in his drawings.
Completing his B.A. in History from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, Mario Miranda began his career in an advertising studio where he worked for four years before taking up cartooning full-time. He got his first break as a cartoonist with The Illustrated Weekly of India which was the renowned English-language weekly newsmagazine publication of India. From then on, the door for opportunities opened for him as his work later got published in Femina, Economic Times, The Times of India and other print publications.
His cartoons grace the walls of one of South Mumbai’s most famous hotspots, Cafe Mondegar at Colaba. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1988 and the Padma Bhushan in 2002. India Cartoonists’ Association, Bangalore, honoured him with a lifetime achievement award too.
Mario Miranda, the artist who conveyed the city of emotions and the citizens with a big heart through his vivid cartoons, passed away on 11 December 2011 due to natural causes. Google Doodle paid homage to him as the doodle has been created by a comic artist Aaron Renier. “I chose his most popular style, very flat with criss-crossing interactions.” In this homage to Miranda, we see a rich litany of people, each unique in their perspective. “That is what I liked most about his work,” Renier explains, “trying to pick out who knows who, who’s watching who, who’s annoyed by who, who’s enamored by who. Hopefully people will see something of Miranda’s spirit in it.”
Mario’s hometown, Goa, will mark the occasion with the release of a book titled The Life of Mario -1949. Miranda’s friend and curator of the Mario Gallery Gerard da Cunha will lead this release as he has been Miranda’s old pal. He believed that Mario always observed people wherever he went and was a master at documenting social life.
A great asset to the news media industry of India, Mario Miranda has been a great personality of the creative industry of the country. His work has inspired young artists to take up drawing, sketching and creating caricatures as a serious affair. His merchandising work like mugs, books, postcards, greeting cards filled with his cartoons have found place at various work stations and personal study tables of people of all types just as his work denoted people of all backgrounds in a still pose yet portraying a prominent tale or emoting surplus feelings.
