Bengaluru: Girish Karnad, veteran actor and foremost playwright of the contemporary Indian stage breathed his last here on Monday.
The Matheran-born Girish imbibed love for theatre from his parents who were fascinated by the drama groups that used to visit their village Sirsi. The art of these folk-theatre bore indigenous impression on Karnad.
Upon graduation from Karnataka University, Dharwar, Karnad went to England and studied at Oxford where he earned the Rhodes Scholarship and went on to receive a Master of Arts Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Karnad dreamt of earning international literary fame. He was aware of the fact that to gain repute of that stature would require him to write in English. But, his love for soil was so deep rooted that he chose to write in Kannada.
The theatre stalwart did realize his dream of international fame through decades of consistent literary output on his native soil.
Ironically, Girish Karnad, who left behind a rich legacy of theatre art never set out to be playwright. At heart, he always wanted to be a poet. It was C. Rajagopalachari's Mahabharata which inspired Karnad to write 'Yayati', his maiden attempt at writing which in his own words came to him "like a dictation". The rest, as they say, is history.
In a career spanning six decades, Karnad acted mostly in Kannada and Hindi films, which were in mainstream and off-beat genres. He also featured in television serials, including the famous 'Malgudi Days', based on the works of renowned Indian English author, R.K. Narayan.
Karnad composed many plays and acted in some of them such as 'Tughlaq' and 'Hayavadana'. His last play 'Rakshasa Tangadi', was published last year. While his last Hindi outing was 2017 released Salman Khan-starrer 'Tiger Zinda Hai'.
The Padma Bhushan awardee succumbed to multi-organ failure at his residence at Lavelle Road in the city's upscale locality near the famous Cubbon Park.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, former Prime Minister and Janata Dal-Secular supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers D.V. Sadananda Gowda have offered their condolences.
