Doodle gaffe: When Google mistook Lacchu Maharaj

Google dedicated on Tuesday its doodle art to the tabla artiste and musician Lachhu Maharaj to celebrate his 74th birthday. In the line art, doodle features Lachhu Maharaj playing the tabla with a happy face.

However, when you click on the doodle the result page has featured the Wikipedia page of classical dancer Lachhu Maharaj. The last sentence in Google blog on the doodle says he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademy Award in 1957, but the same sentence can be seen on the Wikipedia page of Lachhu Maharaj the dancer, who choreographed the dance sequences in the Hindi classical films Mughal-e-Azam and Pakeezah.

According to Wikipedia, the musician Lachhu Maharaj born as Lakshmi Narayan Singh on October 16, 1944. His father's name was Vasudev Narayan Singh. He was part of the Benaras Gharana. Lachhu Maharaj is the maternal uncle of actor Govinda. Maharaj married Teena, a French national, and had a daughter, Narayani.

He performed all over the world and has performed for several movies. The government nominated him for the Padma Shri but he declined it, saying: "The appreciation of the audience was enough of an honour." The artiste died in Varanasi on July 28, 2016, after a prolonged illness.

According to media reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav had condoled his death. On Tuesday, several media outlets reported the Google Doodle news as the 110th birthday of Lachhu Maharaj. The doodle was designed by guest artist Sajid Shaikh.

Has the search engine giant confused itself?