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Girish Karnad was without a doubt one of the greatest literary figures in Indian literature. He also possessed a versatility that made him a true Renaissance man.
A quick look at his CV confirms him: playwright, translator, director and actor, screenwriter, director of FTII in Pune, director of the Nehru Center in London and president of Sangeet Natak Akademi. He won many awards in theater and film and, although he was a staunch critic of the country's social system and ineffective governments, he not only received Padma Bhushan, but the Karnataka government even declared mourning for his death and was going to grieve him. Funeral (which his family refused because, typically, he wanted a no-nonsense funeral, reserved only for the family).
Girish Karnad. Image via Facebook / @ karnadhandle
What always amazed me, is that he wrote all his pieces in kannada and not in english. After all, he had obtained a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University, where he had obtained the very rare distinction of becoming President of Oxford University. He had become a national and even international figure in his early twenties and his spoken language was English. Intrigued by this apparent contradiction, I asked him once: "In what language do you think?" His answer was cryptic, but it defined: "It depends", he says, its short form depended on context and circumstances.
Maybe his early education had something to do with it. His initial schooling – he was born in Matheran in Maharashtra – was in Marathi. When the family moved to Dharwad in Karnataka, he was 14 years old. The Kannada language was therefore an important part of his education. The fact that he wrote in Kannada and not in English is important: his rooting gave him the unique sensitivity that produced his best pieces, Yayati Hayavadana and Naga Mandala all based on our mythology and strongly influenced by folk theater and Yakshagana. Although the central idea of Hayavadana comes from Thomas Mann Transposed Heads Karnad's play brilliantly uses our folkloric traditions. The only one of his large quartet of plays that could have been written in English was Tughlaq because it was based on history rather than mythology.
Girish Karnad's plays were an example of the transformative practices of his generation, but He also bore his distinctive mark
Girish Karnad was only 23 years old when he wrote Yayati the piece that placed him at the center of national consciousness. In an interview he said: "I was only the scribe – I even heard dialogues being heard in my ears" – words spoken by epic characters of the Mahabharata (King Yayati was an ancestor of the Pandavas). Three years later, in 1964, he wrote Tughlaq which was perhaps based on a historical character, but established a clear parallel with the Nehru era, that of a full beginning of 39, idealism and hope and which ended sadly with disenchantment and despair. . All of his plays were doing this – perhaps they were based on mythology, history or folk tales, but they spoke with modern sensibility and spoke of modern philosophical concerns.
I had a personal touch with him at the movies when I was with me. FFC / NFDC. If my memory is good, two of his first films (both in Kannada) were made with the support of the FFC – Samskara in which he played and wrote the screenplay, and Vamsha Vriksha who directed. As an actor, his best roles were in two powerful films of Shyam Benegal, Nishant and Manthan . All of these films could be grouped together under the widely-used parallel cinema label (or new cinema), but Karnad was not opposed to being part of mainstream cinema either. And what more Bollywood than two films of Yash Raj of which he was a part, Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and Tiger Zinda Hai (2017)?
If you look at Girish On the Karnad Wikipedia page you will find my name in "Controversies". This happened during the International Literary Festival of Mumbai, which I founded and directed. During literature Tata Live! The Mumbai LitFest of 2012, we decided to give the Lifetime Achievement Award to VS Naipaul. The great writer, then quite ill and confined to a wheelchair, had arrived and was to receive the prize on the last day. The day before that, we invited Girish Karnad to give a lecture during one of the day's sessions, entitled "My trip to the theater".
The NCPA's Experimental Theater was filled with people eager to hear Karnad's conversation. I was also eager and occupied my usual seat in the front row. Girish began his speech with a reference to Naipaul. "It's original," I thought because I knew Naipaul's fiction and his more provocative non-fiction, but I had never heard that he was related in any way to the theater. However, I quickly realized that Girish had completely deviated from his subject and had launched a virulent attack on Naipaul for his "sectarian conceptions of Islam," beginning with what Naipaul would have said about the demolition of Babri Masjid. The auditorium was boiling, half of the audience applauding Karnad, the other half booing him. After finishing with Naipaul, Girish formed his weapons on the organizers (ie me!) To award the prize to Naipaul.
News from the Girish Karnad tribune against Naipaul quickly spread and the NCPA grounds were filled with TVs vans Our festival had become a national news and the place swarmed with journalists. From there, we had packed halls for each session. The post-script of this story is as follows: A few years ago, I called Girish to tell him that we were giving him the award of excellence for all of his achievements. He was surprised and delighted. He came and gave a wonderful lecture on his trip to the theater. It may have taken a few years longer than expected, but the wait was worth it.
Anil Dharker is the founder and director of the Tata LiteratureLive festival! Mumbai LitFest
Our archive: Girish Karnad on Agnivarsha and the writing of a mythological drama
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