How many of you opened the search engine 'Google' today? Did you find something extraordinarily artistic and beautiful? Did you notice a colourful doodle of veteran actress Zohra Sehgal in a classical dance posture with a floral background?

Do you know who curated this exquisite illustration?

Doodle

The word 'Celebrating Zohra Sehgal' appears over the Doodle when the cursor is pointed on it. A note on the Google Doodle page says the design was created by guest artist Parvati Pillai.

The colourful Doodle shows an animated version of the actor Zohra in a classical dance posture with a floral background. And also shows the late actor's sketch replacing the O of ''GOOGLE'' and offering one of her iconic dance step from the song ''Jiya Jale'' from Mani Ratnam-directed "Dil Se".

The page goes on to share details about her early years and notable achievements in the field of arts and cinema.

About the illustrator Parvati Pillai

Zohra Sehgal

Parvati Pillai is a young and dynamic girl who discovered illustration in her 3rd year of Bachelors in Animation. She is steadily working for Chumbak and Tinkle, Parvati Pillai later joined Aalto University, Finland, as a Master's student, thereon illustrating for a wide range of publications and brands like Google and many others.

Kudos to the artist for brightening up the search engine!

Here's why Google Doodle pays tribute to Zohra Sehgal

On this day in 1946, "Neecha Nagar", starring Sehgal, was released at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Palme d'Or prize. The movie, according to Google, is Indian cinema''s first international critical success. While the renowned actor started her career only at the age of 28, she became a force to be reckoned with as she continued to appear on the big screen for around six decades. For her contribution to the field, Zohra Sehgal received many accolades and awards including Padma Shri in 1998 and Padma Vibhushan in 2010.

Zohra Sehgal

Let's take a look at some rare and unseen pictures of the veteran actor.

Segal was born on 27 April 1912, in Saharanpur, and began her career as a dancer in choreographer Uday Shankar's troupe in 1935. Till 1943, Segal toured across USA, Japan and Europe, performing with Shankar's group.

Zohra Sehgal

Sehgal started her career as a dancer with Uday Shankar in 1935. She had appeared in many Bollywood films as a character actor as well as in English language films besides television series and plays.

Early career

Sehgal worked with Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) and Prithviraj Kapoor's Prithvi Theatre for 14 years.

Zohra Shegal

She moved to London on a drama scholarship in 1962 and built an international profile with roles in British television classics "Doctor Who" and "The Jewel in the Crown" among others.

How Bollywood happened

In the mid-1990s, she returned to India and continued acting on the stage and in Bollywood films.

Sehgal went on to feature in hits like "Cheeni Kum", "Dil Se", "Veer Zaara", "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam", "Bend It Like Beckham", among others.

Her last big-screen appearance was Sanjay Leela Bhansali''s 2007 movie 'Saawariya'.

Her demise

She died in Delhi in 2014 at the age of 102.

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