Noted actor Girish Karnad passes away

Veteran actor, writer and playwright Girish Karnad passed away in Bengaluru on Monday. He was 81.

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

He was conferred the prestigious Padma Shri in 1974 and in 1992. The Indian government awarded him the Padma Bhushan, in recognition of his contributions to the arts. In 1999 he was the recipient of the Jnanpith Award which is India’s highest literary prize for his contributions to literature and theatre.

He made his acting and screenwriting debut came in the year 1970 in the Kannada film Samskara (1970), which was based on a novel by UR Ananthamurthy. The film won the first President’s Golden Lotus Award for Kannada cinema. He went on to star in Tamil films such as Nan Adimai ille and Kadhalan. He has also starred in Hindi film Ek Tha Tiger and Tiger Zinda Hai.