ISLAMABAD: Anyone clicking on Google Pakistan today will be greeted by a doodle of legendary author, playwright, and screenwriter, Saadat Hassan Manto, in an artwork designed to commemorate his 108th birthday.
Malik told Arab News that she played with different colours and styles of splashes in the backdrop, but ultimately settled on blue so as not to confuse Manto's writing legacy with that of other art forms, such as painting. (Shehzil Malik)
For the image, Google reached out to Lahore-based illustrator Shehzil Malik to produce a piece that would evoke “pride and joy in celebrating an inspirational regional hero".
Malik, who counts Manto as her "personal hero" said she jumped at the opportunity.
"His approach to writing is rooted in being honest and brutal and fearless...it made him someone I look up to... we don’t have anyone like that, like him today!” Malik told Arab News during a phone interview on Monday.
Born on May 11, 1912, Manto is one of Pakistan’s most prolific artists whose work includes classics such as Toba Tek Singh, Thanda Gosht, in addition to 22 collections of short stories, a novel, three collections of essays, more than 100 radio plays, and 15 film scripts. However, he is best known for his stories on the partition of India in 1947.
Other variations of the drawing included pages with writing on them floating behind Manto's image. (Shehzil Malik)
After being approached by Google, Malik said she went through several design iterations to "craft a piece that illustrated my respect and love for the legendary writer" as well as to follow the brief provided by Google.
“I knew I wanted the message of his power to be there, so once [Google] and I settled on a sketch we liked from there it was about tweaking it," she said.
Since she first shared the image on her Instagram account, Malik has amassed over 4,000 likes.
The doodle will be available on Google's homepage until Tuesday.
