Girish Karnad

Girish Raghunath Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019)^[1] was an Indian actor, movie director, screenwriter,^[2] playwright and a Rhodes Scholar. His works were based in Kannada.^[3] He was a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award. ^[4] His best acting roles were as Guruji in Iqbal movie (2005) and as Dr. Shenoy in Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and in the sequel Tiger Zinda Hai (2017).

Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad at Cornell University, 2009
Born	Girish Raghunath Karnad (1938-05-19)19 May 1938 Matheran, British India (now in Maharashtra, India)
Died	10 June 2019(2019-06-10) (aged 81) Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Occupation	Playwright, actor, movie director
Alma mater	Karnatak University, University of Oxford
Period	1961–2019
Genre	Drama
Notable works	Tughlaq, Taledanda, Malgudi Days, Iqbal, Ek Tha Tiger
Spouse	Saraswathy Ganapathy
Children	Raghu Karnad, Shalmali Radha

Karnad was born in Matheran in present-day Maharashtra. He studied at Karnatak University and at the University of Oxford. His son, Raghu, is a journalist. Karnad died of multiple organ failure caused by a long-illness on 10 June 2019 at a hospital in Bengaluru, Karnataka at the age of 81.^[1]

Early Life and Education

Girish Karnad was born on 19 May 1938 in Matheran, which is now in the state of Maharashtra, India. He belonged to a Konkani-speaking family. Karnad grew up in different parts of Karnataka and studied at Karnatak University in Dharwad. He was a very bright student and later went to the University of Oxford in England as a Rhodes Scholar, where he studied philosophy, politics and economics.

Writing and Theater

Karnad became famous as a playwright. His first play, Yayati, was written in Kannada and published in 1961. His second play, Tughlaq (1964), became very popular and is still performed today. His plays often mixed history and mythology with modern-day themes. He wrote about society, power and human emotions in a deep but simple way.

Many of his plays were translated into other Indian languages and English. He helped bring modern themes into Indian theater and inspired many other writers.

Awards and Recognition

Girish Karnad won many awards during his lifetime:

• Jnanpith Award (1998) for his contribution to literature.

• Padma Shri (1974) and Padma Bhushan (1992) from the Government of India.

• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and many national film awards for his work in movies.