Indian theatre remembers its Renaissance man, Girish Karnad

Renaissance man and prolific playwright Girish Karnad, who passed away on Monday at his Bengaluru residence at 81, played a lead with Smita Patil in the 1980s in Jabbar Patel's well-known Marathi film Umbartha. It means 'threshold'.

In the film, he plays a conservative husband who along with his mother bars his wife from taking a job, as a superintendent of a women's reformatory, which requires her to stay away from him.

The man himself, contrary to his character in the film, always broke thresholds, changing societal norms in plays like Hayavadan, Tughlaq, Anju Mallige and Nagmandala among many others.

Actor-director Geetanjali Kulkarni says the multi-hyphenate cultural icon used traditional stories but interpreted them for modern times.

"He gave a fresh perspective to look at life. I played Devi in Hayavadan, directed by Sunil Shanbaug, in my National School of Drama (NSD) convocation in front of Girish Karnad himself. He is important as a writer as he was not just writing but also commenting. He spoke as he wrote and his actions also mirrored it," says Kulkarni.

"I like the madness of Tughlaq and how he has made the character human. In 1976, it was a period of political renaissance with Badal Sircar, Habib Tanvir and Vijay Tendulkar. Karnad's plays brought out history and politics in a modern context and asked questions in the process."

While mingling with the who's who of the theatre elite, Karnad held the pulse of the foot soldiers of theatre who keept it alive.

"I saw Hayavadana which Satyadev Dubey had directed and in which Amrish Puri, Dina Pathak and Amol Palekar had acted. Later I saw Nagamandal which Shafi Inamdar had directed. I met him at Dubey's house. He had actually seen my work. He kept a track of what young people were doing in theatre and was extremely approachable," said Om Katare, founder, Yatri Theatre.

His play Tughlaq, based on the eccentric Mughal emperor who shifted his capital from Delhi to the Deccan, is a global landmark. It is taught in the National School of Drama and its speeches are read out in multiple auditions in the city, Katare says.

There was something about him that made him extremely relatable and personable to actors.

Rasika Agashe, director-actor at Being Association, has organised a reading of his plays to commemorate his work. She has acted in the play Wedding Album, which Karnad had written and which Lillete Dubey directed. But Hayavadan continues to be her favorite play. It is his simplicity she says that drew him towards everyone.

"I was an NSD student when I first saw him at a seminar having food. I was amazed to see the pillar of Indian play writing was this simple. I realised this is what he is like, his plays about complexity make it so simple to understand. He talked about politics and took clear stands in his plays and in his life," says Agashe.

You could meet him in the earthly cafe of Ranga Shankara theatre in Bengaluru where he would often meet young actors over a cup of coffee minus all the pretense of the greatness that he stood for.

A cameo in an outright commercial venture like Shivaay and Ek Tha Tiger showed not just his versatility but the relative ease with which he could straddle various roles.

The announcement in English and Kannada requesting the audience to keep their mobiles off in Ranga Shankara in Bengaluru is made by Karnad's voice. It is his voice that will immortalise his memories in the iconic theatre. Adieu Karnad!