Bengaluru: Jnanpith Award winner Girish Karnad was one of the most noted playwrights in India.  He wrote his first play, the critically acclaimed ‘Yayati’ (1961), while still at Oxford. Centred on the story of a mythological king, the play established  Karnad’s use of the themes of history and mythology. Karnad’s next play, ‘Tughlaq’ (1964), tells the story of the 14th-century sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq and remains among the best known of his works.

Karnad has written numerous plays in Kannada and is considered one of Kannada literature’s foremost playwrights. Apart from ‘Yayati’, his other most popular plays were ‘Hayavadana’ in 1972 and ‘Nagamandala’ in 1988. ‘Tughlaq’ made Karnad a name to reckon with among playwrights in the country.

He was conferred Padma Shri in 1974 and in 1992, he was awarded Padma Bhushan. He was the recipient of Jnanpith, India’s highest literary prize, in 1999 for his contributions to literature and theatre. Karnad’s acting and screen-writing debut came in 1970 in the Kannada film ‘Samskara’ (1970), which is based on a novel by U.R. Ananthamurthy. The film won the first President’s Golden Lotus Award for Kannada cinema. Karnad followed with ‘Vamsha Vriksha’ (1971), co-directed by B.V. Karanth.

During this period Karnad continued to produce work as a playwright, including ‘Hayavadana’ (1971), widely acclaimed as among the most important plays of post-independent India. Karnad’s well-known films in Kannada include ‘Thabaliyu Neenade Magane’ (1977) and ‘Ondanondu Kaaladalli’ (1978). He also worked in Hindi, directing the critically acclaimed ‘Utsav’ (1984), an adaptation of Shūdraka’s 4th-century Sanskrit play ‘Mrichchakatika.’

His Hindi movies include ‘Nishaant’, ‘Manthan’, ‘Swami’ and ‘Pukar’. He had acted in a number of Nagesh Kukkunoor films, starting with ‘Iqbal’, in which Karnad played the role of a ruthless cricket coach. This was followed by ‘Dor’, ‘8 x 10 Tasveer’ and ‘Aashayein’. In 2012, he played the role of RAW Chairman, Shenoy, in Salman Khan-starrer ‘Ek Tha Tiger’. He reprised his role of Shenoy in ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’.

Outside of his work on stage and on screen, he was an active voice against violence against writers and journalists in India. On the one-year anniversary of the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, he attended an event with a placard around his neck that read, “#MeTooUrbanNaxal.”

During the Police investigation into Gauri Lankesh’s murder, they found that Karnad’s name was first on a hit list of a far-right conspiracy, by members associated with groups that were targeting several litterateurs and rationalists.

He was born in Maharashtra on May 19, 1938. He got his Bachelor’s degree from the Karnataka University in 1958 and then proceeded on a fellowship to study at Oxford where he secured his M.A. degree in 1963. At Oxford, Karnad studied philosophy, politics, and economics.