| Mario Miranda | |
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Mario Miranda (cartoonist/painter) |
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| Born | Mario Miranda 2 May 1926 Daman, India |
| Died | 11 December 2011 (aged 85) Goa, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Cartoonist, Painter |
| Known for | Cartoonist for The Illustrated Weekly of India |
Mario João Carlos do Rosario de Brito Miranda (2 May 1926 – 11 December 2011), popularly known as Mario Miranda or Mario de Miranda, was an Indian cartoonist based in Loutolim in the Indian state of Goa. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and Padma Shri in 1988.
Miranda had been a regular with The Times of India and other newspapers in Mumbai, including The Economic Times, though he got his popularity with his works published in The Illustrated Weekly of India.[1]
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Miranda was born in Daman to Catholic parents, his Goan father of Goud Saraswat Brahmin origin.[2] and his mother, also born in Daman, was of Goan and Portuguese descent. His ancestral paternal surname was Sardessai, before the family converted to Roman Catholicism in the 1750s.[3] At an early age when his mother saw him drawing his home walls, she brought him a blank book, which he calls his "Diary". He even started getting into trouble at school, for sketching Catholic priests.[4] Mario Miranda's early cartoons presented vignettes of Goan village life, a theme he is best known for even today. He died on 11 December 2011.
He studied at St. Joseph's Boys' High School, Bangalore and then did a B.A. in History at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, while focusing on the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Thereafter he started studying architecture at the behest of his parents, though he soon lost interest.[5]
Meanwhile his talent was noticed and his friends encouraged him to make postcards and draw for them, which earned him extra pocket money.
Miranda started 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 published a few of his works.[6] His drawings & cartoons also brought him an offer to work at the Current magazine. A year later, the Times of India offered him a slot, even though they had rejected him at first. Thereafter, his creations, such as Miss Nimbupani and Miss Fonseca, appeared on a regular basis in Femina, Economic Times, and The Illustrated Weekly of India.
Miranda was offered the Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian Scholarship, which enabled him to travel to and stay a year in Portugal and this time in Portugal, according to Miranda, helped him to broaden his horizons. After a year in Portugal, Miranda travelled to London, England and was to spend five years there, learning as well as doing jobs for newspapers and even worked in television animation, at Independent Television.
Miranda's cartoons were featured in the Lilliput, Mad (once), and Punch (twice) magazines. This supplemented his finances, and enabled him to travel around Europe, interacting with other cartoonists, gaining considerable knowledge and exposure. This led to his meeting of Sir Ronald Searle, whom Miranda considered his mentor.
After five years in England, Miranda returned to Mumbai and was offered back his old job with the Times of India, where he worked with noted cartoonist, R.K. Laxman.
Thereafter, Miranda met artist Habiba Hydari. They got married and had two sons, Raul and Rishaad.
Miranda's big break came in 1974, when, at the invitation of the United States Information Services, he travelled to America, which enabled him to promote his art and interact with other cartoonists in the United States and also got a chance to work with Charles M. Schulz, the creator of Peanuts) and met Herblock, the editorial cartoonist of the Washington Post.
He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1988, the Padma Bhushan in 2002 and All India Cartoonists's Association, Bangalore, honoured him with a lifetime achievement award.[7]. The King of Spain, Juan Carlos, conferred on Mario the highest civilian honour of "la Cruz de Isabel la Catolica’ which was presented to him on 11/11/2009 at his family home in Loutulim by Don Miguel Nieto Sandoval and on 29/12/2009 Portugal, under the President of the Republic Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, made him "Comendador da Ordem de Infante D.Henrique", a Portuguese National Order of Knighthood.
He has held solo exhibitions in over 22 countries, including the United States, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, France, Yugoslavia, and Portugal.[8]
Miranda's cartoons grace the walls of one of South Mumbai's most famous hotspots, Cafe Mondegar, in Colaba.
Miranda also featured in the "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara" video, which included a host of India's most notable personalities in arts, films, literature, music and sports.
Besides cartooning, Miranda's murals are present on various buildings in Goa and other parts of India. Late in life he took to paintings which receive wide response.
Over the years, he published several books, including Laugh it Off, Goa with Love, and Germany in Wintertime.
Besides his own books, he illustrated books by Dom Moraes (A Journey to Goa), Manohar Malgaonkar (Inside Goa) and Mario Cabral e Sa's (Legends of Goa). He also illustrated many children's books, including Dul-Dul, The Magic Clay Horse (1968), The Adventures of Pilla the Pup (1969), and Lumbdoom, The Long-Tailed Langoor (1968), all written by Uma Anand and published by IBH Publishing Company, Bombay, under its Echo imprint.
He loved travel and listening to music and it was his ambition to experiment further with water colours and to write memories of his early years in Goa, on retirement. He was not able to fulfill these two latter ambitions.
After retirement, Miranda lived in his ancestral home, at Loutolim, a village in Salcete, Goa, with his wife, younger son and their pets. This house features in the 1985 Shyam Benegal film, Trikaal. Even after he retired, Miranda's work was seen regularly in Mumbai publications, and he was invited to travel to countries such as Mauritius and Spain, and draw their local cultures.[9] On 11 December 2011, Mario Miranda died of natural causes at his home in Loutolim.[10]His funeral was held on 12/12/11 at Loutulim Saviour of the World Church, where the family choir of Miguel Cotta, rendered for the first time Andrew Lloyd-Webber's version of Pie Jesu. Mario's body was then taken to the Hindu Crematorium in Pagifond, Margao, where he was cremated, thus fulfilling his wish, according to his wife.