Girish Karnad

Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad at Cornell University, 2009
Girish Karnad at Cornell University, 2009
BornGirish Raghunath Karnad
(1938-05-19)19 May 1938
Matheran, Bombay Presidency, British India
(now in Maharashtra, India)
Died10 June 2019(2019-06-10) (aged 81)
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Occupation
  • Playwright
  • director
  • actor
Alma materKarnataka University
Magdalen College, Oxford
Period1961–2019
GenreFiction
Literary movementNavya
Notable worksTughlaq
Taledanda
Ajit Shenoy in YRF Spy Universe
SpouseSaraswathy Ganapathy
ChildrenRaghu Karnad, Shalmali Radha

Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019)[1] was an Indian actor, film director, Kannada writer,[2] playwright and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi films. His rise as a playwright in the 1960s marked the coming of age of modern Indian playwriting in Kannada, just as Badal Sarkar did in Bengali, Vijay Tendulkar in Marathi, and Mohan Rakesh in Hindi.[3] He was a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honour conferred in India.[4]

For four decades Karnad composed plays, often using history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues. He translated his plays into English and received acclaim. His plays have been translated into some Indian languages and directed by directors like Ebrahim Alkazi, B. V. Karanth, Alyque Padamsee, Prasanna, Arvind Gaur, Satyadev Dubey, Vijaya Mehta, Shyamanand Jalan, Amal Allanaa and Zafer Mohiuddin.[5]

He was active in the world of Indian cinema working as an actor, director and screenwriter, in Hindi and Kannada cinema, and has earned awards.

He was conferred Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the Government of India and won four Filmfare Awards, of which three are Filmfare Award for Best Director – Kannada and the fourth a Filmfare Best Screenplay Award. He was a presenter for a weekly science magazine programme called "Turning Point" that aired on Doordarshan in 1991.

  1. ^ "Girish Karnad passes away, end of an era in Indian theatre and cinema". The News Minute. 10 June 2019. Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  2. ^ "Sahitya Akademi : Who's Who of Indian Writers". Sahitya Akademi. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  3. ^ "Drama between the lines". Financial Express. 28 January 2007. Archived from the original on 27 July 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
  4. ^ "Jnanpith for Dr Girish Karnad". Rediff.com. 21 January 1999. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference hin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).