Girish Karnad is an Indian actor, director, playwright, writer, professor, etc. He mainly works in the South Indian film industry. He rose to fame as a playwright in the 1960s. He has worked in cinemas for more than forty years. In 1998, he received the Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honor.
Wiki/Biography
Girish Raghunath Karnad was born on May 19, 1938 in Matheran, Bombay District, British India (now Maharashtra, India) (age at time of death: 81 years). His mother Krishnabhai was a widow before his birth. She worked as a nurse in a hospital where she met Dr. Raghunath Karnad. They fell in love but were unable to marry due to widespread prejudice against widows remarrying. Five years later, however, they were married and Girish was their third of four children. Initially, he received education in Marathi. From a young age, he was very interested in theater and joined the “Natak Mandalis” (traveling theater group). Girish is an admirer of ‘Yakshagana’, a traditional theater form. When he was 14, his family moved to Dharwad, Karnataka, where he grew up with his two sisters and a niece. For higher education, he attended Karnataka College of Arts, Dharwad, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and statistics in 1958.
Early images of Girish Karnad
In 1960, he received a Rhodes Scholarship to study for a master’s degree at Oxford University in England. He holds master’s degrees in philosophy, political science and economics. In 1963 he was elected president of the Oxford Union.
family
Karnad was born to Dr. Raghunath Karnad and Krishna Bhai Mankikara. His father is a doctor and his mother is a nurse. He has two brothers; Vasant Karnad and Bhalchandra Raghunath Karnad and two sisters. The name of his sister is unknown.
He is married to Dr. Saraswathy Ganapathy and has a son, Raghu Karnad.
Girish Karnad’s wedding photos
Girish Karnad’s wife
Raghu Karnad, son of Girish Karnad
Profession
In 1963, he returned from England and started working at Oxford University Press in Chennai. In 1970, he resigned from journalism and joined the local amateur theater group, the Madras Actors. From 1974 to 1975, he served as the President of the Film and Television Institute of India. In 1987, he served as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago. He also served as the Chairman of the National Academy of Performing Arts “Sangeet Natak Akademi” in 1988. From 2000 to 2003, he served as Director of the Nehru Center and Minister of Culture at the Indian High Commission in London.
writing
Karnad was a famous playwright. He writes in Kannada. His works have been translated into English and several other Indian languages. After the publication of the play Mahabharata by C. Rajagopalachari, the last governor-general of India, it indeed had a huge impact on Karnad’s life. In an interview, he said: “I could actually hear the dialogue being spoken in my ears… I was just the scribe.” In 1960, he wrote his first play, Maa Nishaadha. In 1961, he published the drama book Yayati and received the Mysore National Award in 1962. His next play was Tughlaq (1964), based on the 14th-century Sultan of Delhi Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
At only 26 years old, he is already a promising playwright in China, and his play “Tughlaq” won him popularity. In 1971, another of his plays, Hayavadana, was published. It is based on Thomas Mann’s 1940 novella “The Transpose Heads”. In 1988, another of his plays, Naga-Mandala, was published. The work won him the Karnataka Sahitya Academy award for the most creative work of the year. His other plays include “Fire Man” (1995), “Odakarubimba” (2006), “Maduf Album” (2006), “Flower” (2012), etc.
acting
He made his acting and screenwriting debut with a Kannada film, Samskara (1970). The film won the first Presidential Golden Lotus Award for Kannada Cinema. In 1971, he made his directorial debut with the film “Vamsha Vriksha”. The film won him and co-director BV Karanth the National Film Award for Best Director. He later directed several other Kannada and Hindi films, including Godhuli (1977) and Utsav (1984). He also directed a few other films; Nishaant (1975), Manthan (1976), Swami (1977) and Pukar (2000). He made his television debut in 1986 with the TV series “Malgudi Days”. He played a key role in the film “Ek Tha Tiger” (2012) and its sequel “Tiger Zinda Hai” (2017).
He voiced former Indian President Abdul Kalam in the audiobook of Kalam’s autobiography Wings of Fire.
dispute
- In 2012, Karnad was invited to speak about his life at the Tata Literary Festival in Mumbai. When he spoke, instead of talking about himself, he started attacking the Trinidadian-British writer and Nobel laureate VS Naipaul for his antipathy towards Indian Muslims.
- In the same year, he sparked another controversy by calling Rabindranath Tagore a second-rate playwright and his plays intolerable.
- In November 2015, during celebrations to mark the birth anniversary of the 18th-century Muslim ruler Tipu Sultan, he said the Bengaluru international airport should be named after Tipu Sultan and not Kempegowda. After public outrage erupted, he apologized the next day.
Awards/Honors
for literature
- Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and Varthur Navya Award (1972)
- Padma Shri(1974)
- Padmasambhava (1992)
- Kannada Sahitya Parishat Award (1992)
- Sahitya Academy Award (1994)
- Gianampis Prize (1998)
- Kalidas Samman(1998)
national film award
- Best Director: Vamsha Vriksha (with BV Karanth) (1971)
- Best Kannada Feature Film: Vamsha Vriksha (1971)
- Best Kannada Feature Film: Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane (1977)
- Best Screenplay: Bhumika (with Shyam Benegal and Satyadev Dubey) (1978)
- Best Kannada Feature Film: Ondanondu Kaladalli (1978)
- Best Non-Feature Film: Kanaka Purandara (1989)
- Best non-feature film on social issues: “Niche Light” (1990)
- Best Environmental Protection Film: Cheluvi (1992)
- Best Kannada Feature Film: Kaanuru Heggadathi (1999)
Southern Film Audience Award
- Best Director, Kannada Film: Vamsha Vriksha (1972)
- Best Director, Kannada Film: Kaadu (1974)
- Best Director, Kannada Film: Ondanondu Kaladalli (1978)
- Best Actor in a Kannada Film: Ananda Bhairavi (1983)
Hindi Filmfare Awards
- Best Screenplay: Godhuli (with BV Karanth) (1980)
honor
- Honorary Doctorate from University of Southern California, Los Angeles (2011)
favorite thing
- Food: Kanda Batata Poha, Misal Pav, Vada-Pav, Aloo Methi, Lacha Prantha, Sabutdana Khichdi
- Starring: Amitabh Bachchan/Rajesh Khanna/Govinda/Punit Raj Kumar/Diganth
- Color: gray, black, brown, blue
- Book: “Why Survive?” “Aging in America” (Robert Neil Butler)
- Poets: Amogavarsha, Kape Arabata
die
Karnad passed away in Bangalore on June 10, 2019 at the age of 81 after a long illness.
fact
- Karnad belonged to the Saraswa Brahmin Konkani family.
- His performance as Swami’s father in the TV series Malgudi Days (1987) was highly appreciated by the Indian audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQLYQ0GhBtE
- He first met his wife at a party in Madras, where he worked at Oxford University Press, and married her at the age of 42.
- In the 2014 general election, he opposed Narendra Modi becoming the prime minister.
- He is a strong critic of religious fundamentalism and Hinduism.
- His hobbies are reading, writing, listening to music, doing yoga, etc.
- The following is an interview with Girish Karnad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laL7oWWuLGI
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education