- Well-known writer, playwright, actor and public intellectual, Girish Karnad (81), passed away on June 10 in Bengaluru.
- Born in Matheran in May 1938, he was one of the most prominent theatre personalities of the 60s and 70s.
- He wrote his first play Ma Nishada in 1960 and followed it with his breakout play Yayati in 1961 when he was a Rhodes scholar in England. Karnad translated most of his plays himself. His last play was Rakshasa Tangadi, published in 2018, set in the last years of the Vijayanagara empire.
- Ebrahim Alkazi’s 1972 production of Tughlaq (written in 1964) catapulted Mr. Karnad into national prominence.
- Mr. Karnad made his acting debut and screenwriting debut in iconic Kannada movie, “Samskara” (1970), based on a novel by UR Ananthamurthy. It was directed by Pattabhirama Reddy and the film won the first President’s Golden Lotus Award for Kannada cinema.
- Karnad was seen in commercial films such as Salman Khan’s “Tiger Zinda Hai” and Ajay Devgn-starrer “Shivaay”.His TV credits include “Malgudi Days” in which he played Swami’s father.
- Karnad, a recipient of Jnanpith Award in 1998, was also conferred the Padma Shri in 1974 and the Padma Bhushan in 1992.
