Saturday, 24 August 2013

GIRISH KARNAD





GIRISH KARNAD – Film Actor/Director

Girish Raghunath Karnad (born 19 May 1938) was born in Matheran, Maharashtra. His initial schooling was in Marathi. In Sirsi, Karnataka, he was exposed to travelling theatre groups, Natak Mandalis as his parents were deeply interested in their plays. As a youngster, Karnad was an ardent admirer of Yakshagana and the theater in his village. 

He earned his Bachelors of Arts degree in Mathematics and Statistics, from Karnatak Arts College, Dharwad (Karnataka University), in 1958. Upon graduation Karnad promptly went to England and studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Lincoln and Magdalen colleges in Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar (1960–63), earning his Master of Arts degree in philosophy, political science and economics.

After working with the Oxford University Press, Chennai for seven years (1963–70), he resigned to take to writing full-time. While in Chennai he got involved with local amateur theatre group, The Madras Players. 

During 1987–88, he was at the University of Chicago as Visiting Professor and Fulbright Playwright-in-Residence. During his tenure at Chicago Nagamandala had its world premiere at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis based on Karnad's English translation of the Kannada original. Most recently, he served as director of the Nehru Centre and as Minister of Culture, in the Indian High Commission, London (2000–2003).

He served as director of the Film and Television Institute of India (1974–1975) and chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National Academy of the Performing Arts (1988–93).

Karnad is known as a playwright. His plays, written in Kannada, have been translated into English and some Indian languages. Karnad's plays are written neither in English, in which he vainly dreamt of earning international literary fame as a poet, nor in his mother tongue Konkani. Instead they are composed in his adopted language Kannada. Initially, his command on Kannada was so poor that he often failed to distinguish between short and long vowels (laghu and deergha).

Karnad made his acting as well as screenwriting debut in a Kannada movie, Samskara (1970), based on a novel by U.R. Ananthamurthy and directed by Pattabhirama Reddy. That movie won the first President's Golden Lotus Award for Kannada cinema. Over the years he had acted in a number of Hindi and Kannada feature films and worked with directors like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Shyam Benegal. In television, he played the role of Swami's father in the TV series Malgudi Days (1986–1987), based on R. K. Narayan's books.

He made his directorial debut with Vamsha Vriksha (1971), based on a Kannada novel by S.L. Bhairappa. It won him National Film Award for Best Direction along with B. V. Karanth, who co-directed the film. Later, Karnad directed several movies in Kannada and Hindi, including Godhuli (1977) and Utsav (1984). Karnad has made number of documentaries, like one on the Kannada poet D. R. Bendre (1972), Kanaka-Purandara (English, 1988) on two medieval Bhakti poets of Karnataka, Kanaka Dasa and Purandara Dasa, and The Lamp in the Niche (English, 1989) on Sufism and the Bhakti movement. Many of his films and documentaries have won several national and international awards.

Some of his famous Kannada movies include Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane, Ondanondu Kaladalli, Cheluvi and Kaadu and most recent film Kanooru Heggaditi (1999), based on a novel by Kannada writer Kuvempu.

His Hindi movies include Nishaant (1975), Manthan (1976), Swami (1977) and Pukar (2000). He has acted in a number of Nagesh Kukunoor films, starting with Iqbal (2005), where Karnad's role of the ruthless cricket coach got him critical acclaim. This was followed by Dor (2006), 8 x 10 Tasveer (2009), with lead actor John Abraham and Aashayein (2010).

He came back to Hindi movies after three years. He played a key role in Yash Raj Film's movie Ek Tha Tiger. Karnad has acted in the Kannada gangster movie Aa Dinagalu.

He has been the voice of APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, in the audiobook of Kalam's autobiography by Charkha Audiobooks Wings of Fire.

Girish Karnad has been a critic of religious fundamentalism and Hindutva in India. He publicly condemned the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992 and later spoke against the attempts to create controversy about the Idgah Maidan in Hubli.

Karnad is married to Dr. Saraswathy Ganapathy and they have two children. He lives in Bangalore. 

His movie roles include:
  1. Yaare Koogadali (2012)
  2. Mugamoodi (2012)
  3. Ek Tha Tiger (2012)
  4. Kempe Gowda (2011) as Gowda (Kavya's father)
  5. Komaram Puli (2010) Telugu
  6. Life Goes On (2009) as Sanjay
  7. Aashayein (2009) (completed) as Parthasarthi
  8. 8 x 10 Tasveer (2009) as Anil Sharma
  9. Aa dinagalu Kannada (2007) as Girish nayak
  10. Dor (2006) as Randhir Singh
  11. Iqbal (2005) as Guruji
  12. Shankar Dada MBBS (Telugu) (2004) as Satya Prasad
  13. Chellamae (Tamil) (2004) as Rajasekhar
  14. Hey Ram (Tamil) (2000) as Uppilli Iyengar
  15. Pukar (2000) as Mr. Rajvansh
  16. Prathyartha (1999) as Home Minister of India
  17. Aakrosh: Cyclone of Anger (1998) as Rajwansh Shashtri
  18. China Gate (1998) as Forest Officer Sunder Rajan
  19. Minsaara Kanavu (Tamil) (1997) as Amal Raj
  20. Ratchagan (Tamil) (1997) as Sriram
  21. The Prince (1996) as Vishwanath. Malayalam film
  22. Aatank (1996) as Inspector Khan
  23. Aaghata (Kannada) (1994) as Psychiatrist
  24. Kadhalan (Tamil) (1994) as Kakarla
  25. Praana Daata (1993)
  26. Cheluvi (1992) as Village Headman
  27. Guna (1991)
  28. Antarnaad (1991)
  29. Brahma (1991)
  30. Chaithanya (1991)
  31. AK-47 (film) (1990)
  32. Nehru: The Jewel of India (1990)
  33. Santha Shishunala Sharif (Kannada) (1990) as Govindabhatta
  34. Mil Gayee Manzil Mujhe (1989)
  35. Akarshan (1988)
  36. Sutradhar (1987) as Zamindar
  37. Naan Adimai Illai (1986) as Rajinikanth's Father-in-law
  38. Nilakurinhi Poothappol (Malyalam) (1986) as Appu Menon
  39. Sur Sangam (1985) as Pandit Shivshankar Shastri
  40. Meri Jung (1985) as Deepak Verma
  41. Zamana (1985) as Satish Kumar
  42. Nee Thanda Kanike (Kannada) (1985)
  43. Divorce (1984) as Jayant Oswal
  44. Tarang (1984) as Dinesh
  45. Ek Baar Chale Aao (1983) as Din Dayal
  46. Ananda Bhairavi' (1983) as Narayana Sarma
  47. Teri Kasam (1982) as Rakesh
  48. Aparoopa (Assamese) (1982)
  49. Umbartha (Marathi) (1982) as Advocate Subhash Mahajan
  50. Shama (1981) as Nawab Yusuf Khan
  51. Apne Paraye (1980) as Harish
  52. Man Pasand (1980) as Kashinath
  53. Aasha (1980) as Deepak
  54. Anveshane (Kannada) (1980)
  55. Beqasoor (1980) as Dr. Anand Bhatnagar
  56. Ratnadeep (1979)
  57. Sampark (1979) as Heera
  58. Jeevan Mukt (1977) as Amarjeet
  59. Swami (1977) as Ghanshyam
  60. Manthan (1976) as Dr.Rao
  61. Nishaant (1975) as Schoolmaster
  62. Jadu Ka Shankh (1974)
  63. Vamsha Vriksha (1971)
  64. Samskara (1970) as Praneshacharya
His movies as director includes:
  1. Vamsha Vriksha (1971, Kannada)
  2. D.R. Bendre (1972, documentary)
  3. Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane in Kannada
  4. Godhuli (1977, Hindi)
  5. Ondanondu Kaladalli (1978) in Kannada
  6. Kanooru Heggadathi in Kannada
  7. Kaadu (1973, Kannada)
  8. Durga in Mahendar
  9. Utsav in Hindi
  10. Woh Ghar (1984, Hindi), based on Kirtinath Kurtakoti's Kannada play Aa Mani
  11. The Lamp in the Niche (1990) (documentary)
  12. Cheluvi (1992, Kannada and Hindi (Dubbed))
  13. Chidambara Rahasya (2005, Kannada) (tele film for DD1)
Awards:

For literature
For Cinema





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