Remember Girish Karnad: five of his best

Filmmaker, writer and revolutionary actor Girish Karnad, who died Monday morning, was highly regarded for his film and television roles, which earned him several generations of fans over a career spanning six decades.

of parallel cinema dabbling in commercial blockbusters, his corpus in South Indian and Bollywood cinemas leaves behind a sparkling legacy, but how does the audience remember him best?

Here are some of his best works:

Samskara (Kannada, 1970)

Karnad debuts as a screenwriter and screenwriter with Samskara, after a book by the famous writer Kannada UR Ananthamurthy . The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature. The strong message of the film against the castes was consistent with the views expressed by Karnad throughout his literary and cinematographic career. The historical film was part of a new wave of innovative progressive films in the early 1970s.

Vamsha Vriksha (Kannada, 1972)

Karnad debuted as a director with the feature film Kannada Vamsha Vriksha co-directed by BV Karanth. The film, adaptation of a book by the writer S.L. Bhyrappa, marked the acting debut of Kannada star, Vishnu Vardhan. The critics' acclaim for the film won the National Award for Best Director for Karnad and Karanth.

Nishant (Hindi, 1975)

Shyam Benegal Nishant was one of Karnad's successes. . The film presents a set of heavyweights such as Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi and Amrish Puri. Karnad tried the role of a school teacher whose wife was coveted by the brother of a Zamindar of power. Nishant won the National Film Award for Best Hindi Film in 1977. The film also receives an appointment to the Golden Palm.

Malgudi Days (Hindi, 1987)

A role that pleased viewers related to Doordarshan in the 80s, the portrait of WT Srinivasan by Karnad, Swami's father in the adaptation of RK Le Narayan's legendary book was charismatic, subtle and one still remembers with a lot of nostalgia. The show, which can be broadcast on OTT platforms today, has introduced a new generation of fans into the inimitable presence on the screen of the actor.

Karnad's television career was also animated by a science magazine show Turning Point on DD, an ingenious experiment aimed at establishing scientific knowledge among young minds.

Kadhalan (Tamil, 1994)

Although Karnad boasts a Kollywood filmography in which he played with both Rajinikanth ( Naan Adimai Illai 1986) and Kamal Haasan ( Hey Ram ), he is best known to Tamil film fans for his role in Kadhalan director Shankar. Karnad played the role of governor of TN, whose daughter Nagma falls for Prabhu Deva, a student at the university. The film was a huge blockbuster, following which the actor played other Tamil successes such as Ratchagan and Minsara Kanavu .