By Jagmohan Singh Barhok
On His Birth Anniversary.
Girish Karnad, unarguably is one of the most prolific writer, playwright, actor & director down South, predominantly contributing to Kannada films. The Jnanpith Awardee director also had his contribution to Hindi cinema. Two of his directorial ventures- “Godhuli”( 1977) starring Nasiruddin Shah, Lakshmi Krishnamurthy, Paula Lindsay, & Om Puri & “Utsav” (1984) featuring Rekha, Shashi Kapoor, Amzad Khan, Shankar Nag, Shekhar Suman & Anuradha Patel received worldwide recognition. The latter won National Award for Best Art Direction including Filmfare Best Playback Singer (Anuradha Paudwal ) & Lyricist Award to Vasant Dev (“Mann Kyun Behka”). The former alo won Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay Awarded jointly to Girish Karnad and B.V. Karanth.
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Girish Karnad performed wonderfully in many Hindi films, too, like “Nishaant” (1975), “Manthan (1976)”, “Swami” (1977) including parallel-cinema specialist Nagesh Kukunoor’s “Iqbal”(2005) & “Aashayein” (2010). He was acclaimed for his role in “Ek Tha Tiger” (2012) and its sequel “Tiger Zinda Hai” (2017) produced under the banner Yash Raj Films.
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Considered to be Doyen of Kannada films also called Sandalwood, the veteran actor-director was bestowed with many accolades including Jnanapith Award, the highest literary award conferred in India, & Padma Shri (1974) & Padma Bhushan (1992). He also won 9 National Film Awards for his regional films & 1 for “Bhumika” (1978) starring Smita Patil, Anant Nag & Amol Palekar. He also won Sahitya Academy award in 1992 including 4 Filmfare Awards (South). Received Nominations for “Aasha” & “Teri Kasam” as Best Supporting Actor in 1980 & 1982 respectively.
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Interestingly his other two films a an actor “Swami” (1977) opposite Shabana Azmi & “Manthan”(1976) opposite Smita Patil were also highly acclaimed by critics for their prsentation & contents. The former won two Filmfare Awards & the latter two National & one Filmfare Award respectively.
I met the veteran playright during the making of “Utsav” & later attended the Press Meet.Girish Karnad was always held in high esteem by his co stars.
Born this Day in Bombay in 1938.