Girish Karnad: How a boy from Matheran became a pillar of theater and cinema

When he was a teenager, Girish Raghunath Karnad had the habit of drawing pictures of famous writers, dramatic writers. He sent them the photos to have him signed. In his collection, he has among others autographed images of TS Eliot, Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan and Albert Einstein. But when he sent a photo of Irish playwright Sean O. Casey, he received a letter back in which Sean asked him why he was wasting his time collecting autographs instead of becoming someone who might give autographs. There he stopped and became one of the most famous writers of his time. Former actor, director, playwright and intellectual.

Karnad died in Bengaluru on Monday at the age of 81 after a prolonged illness. Karnad's personality in everyone's head was one in which he took part in a demonstration after the murder of Gauri Lankesh, a tube on his face indicating poor physical health but a strong spirit.

Born in Matheran, Bombay (now Mumbai), Karnad grew up with her parents – both theater lovers – telling her how glorious the theater was. His mother had a great influence on him, he recalls in a documentary directed by KM Chaithanya for the Kannada Sahithya Academy.
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It was at the age of 16 that he learned that his mother, a nurse, was a widow. She married her father, a doctor. It was a second marriage for both. But the women who were remarried at that time were revolutionary. She was liberal because of her own struggles in life and influenced Karnad.
He moved to Sirsi when his father, a government official, was posted there and learned all he could about the theater. Karnad watched Yakshagana, took part with them, learned his puranas from this place without electricity but that contained a world of stories. The plays and an occasional film were their entertainment.

Karnad sits in Dharwad in the 1950s, where his links with the literary world become deeper. He then told stories about DR Bendre, VK Gokak, Kirtinath Kurtakoti and GB Joshi, whose Manohara Granthamala published his first work

. subject. Karnad dreamed of going abroad but did not have enough money for the same thing. He had to obtain a scholarship for which he had to obtain a first course and only the mathematics guaranteed him. Karnad then headed the university and studied at Oxford University through a Rhodes Scholarship.

But before his departure, chaos reigned at home. He had to travel by boat for three weeks, unable to return home until after three years. The parents were wondering if he was marrying a white woman. So they started to persuade him to stay. He put all this in Yayathi (a character from mythology). And so, his first piece was born. He was closer to mythology than he knew well that he had any links with myths in Sirsi. But Karnad, who wanted to be a poet, an English poet who wanted to win a Nobel Prize, wrote a play. Using history and mythology to write pieces of news has become a style for which he is now well known.

Karnad gave the piece to the publisher Granthamala. After five days, when Karnad asked for comments, all the editor said was that the maid's maid of the room was good. He left for Oxford and then received a letter from Kurtakoti stating that the publisher was ready to publish it. Yayathi received a good answer.

"I knew at that time that I was coming back, I was not staying in England, I did not want to be an English poet, I wanted to be in Kannada," Karnad says in the documentary.

Karnad began with Mohenjo-daro, Guptas and Mauryas and reached the thirteenth century, where he fell on Tughlaq, a king who banned the public prayers of his kingdom. While writing Yayathi on his way to Oxford, he wrote Tughlaq on his way home – a work that earned him national recognition. Some of his works – like Hayavadhana – come from informal conversations. Hayavadhana was written after a discussion with BV Karanth on the realization of Thomas Mann's Transposed Heads in a film when the latter suggested making it a play.

Karnad wrote Thaledanda ] and Agni Mattu Male during his stay in Chicago when the question of Babri Masjid-Ram Mandir was on fire in India, when he discussed with sociologists of the caste and religion structure and wondered how the 12th century Basavanna philosopher spoke of the same thing at the time.

When the public slowly moved from theater to cinema, Karnad caught up with him. He made his film debut in 1970 with the film Kannada Samskara for which he also wrote the screenplay after the work of UR Ananthamurthy. He made his directorial debut with Vamsha Vriksha the following year and then continued in the direction Kaadu Ondaanondu Kaaladalli Thabbaliyu Neena [19459] 19659004] In the Hindi film industry, he directed Utsav Godhuli and Woh Ghar collaborated with Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani.

Among the biggest stars of the Indian film industry, he made his debut in his films, including Vishnuvardhan, Shankar Nag, Om Puri, Amrish Puri, Shekhar Suman, Sonali Kulkarni, Artistic Director Rajeev Menon and the director of photography Sabu Siran.

He held administrative positions in the Karnataka Natak Academy, Sangeetha Natak Academy, Indian Film and Television Institute, London Nehru Center, awarded the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Jnanpeeth Prizes.

Karnad also revealed how, when his mother was waiting for her, she wanted an abortion. and persuaded his father to take him to a doctor. The doctor had not come that day and his mother changed her mind later. "Five minutes after hearing this, I thought the world could exist without me, this thought was amazing, it was traumatic," he said in the documentary.

The world now exists without its physical presence. He was cremated without religious rituals and without state honors, without flowers or prominent personalities, as he had wished. He made a point, took a stand even until death.

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