Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad is one of India’s most popular playwrights, film actor and director. He contributed a lot to Indian literature and captivated millions of audience.
Karnad cleverly blended traditional themes with contemporary themes that resulted in many interesting works.
Early Life & Education
Girish Karnad was born on May 19,1938 in Matheran, a small town of today’s Maharashtra, India. He was a Konkani-speaking Saraswat Brahmin, and brought up in Dharwad.
Karnad completed his Bachelor’s in Mathematics and Statistics from Karnatak Arts College, Dharwad and further took his Master’s degree in Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics from Oxford at Magdalen College.
Theater & Playwriting
For Girish Karnad theater was not something that he chose as his career but was actually discovering him during his college days. He started a theater group called “Yakshagana” and was involved in a number of plays as a director and an actor and tested different forms of drama.
The first play by Karnad was “Yayati” in 1961. The play is based on a mythological tale from the Mahabharata, and it dealt with issues such as desire, power and the nature of man.
Yayati’s success gave a successful start to Karnad’s career, and he started writing many other critically acclaimed plays including Tughlaq, Hayavadana, and Nagamandala, among others.
Acting Career
Karnad entered the world of movies as a director with his first movie titled Vamsha Vriksha (The Family Tree) that was released in 1971 which he co-directed with B. V. Karanth.
Some of the other films he is noted for are “Manthan”, “Swami”, “Iqbal and so on; Karnad was a wonderful example of an artist who worked both on theater and films and cemented his position as a celebrated figure in the world of Indian cinema.
Literary & Cultural Contributions
Karnad also served as the Director of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) at Pune in 1974-75, during which he redressed the once failed institute and set out guidelines that helped shape the future of Indian film industry.
He also served the Sangeet Natak Akademi as the Chairman for the time span 1988-1993. In this assignment, he helped to enhance the awareness on the difference forms of arts in India.
Recognition & Awards
In 1988 Karnad was awarded Sangeet Natak Akademi Award which is one of the highest Indian performing art awards given to theatre. The following year he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for his play “Taledanda”.
Aside from his career as a playwright, Karnad was a successful actor too. Appreciating his abilities in acting, he was given the National Film Award for Best Actor for the Kannada film ‘Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane’ in 1977.