Contents
Girish Karnad
Reworking history and myth into major modern Kannada plays.
Yayati · Tughlaq
- Born
- 19 May 1938
- Birthplace
- Matheran, India
- Died
- 10 June 2019
More people
Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad was an Indian playwright, actor and director whose dramas used older stories to question power, identity and social convention.
Early life
Early theatre
Encountered touring theatre and traditional performance while growing up.
Oxford studies
Won a Rhodes Scholarship after studying at Karnataka University.
Career
- 1963
Publishing work
Joined Oxford University Press in Chennai.
- 1970
Full-time creative work
Left publishing and entered cinema.
- 1988–1993
Arts leadership
Chaired the Sangeet Natak Akademi.
Selected work
Yayati
Reworked a story from the Mahabharata.
Tughlaq
Explored idealism and authoritarian rule through a medieval sultan.
Hayavadana
Used a tale of exchanged heads to examine identity.
Beyond work
Public voice
Spoke against communal violence and religious intolerance.
Family
Married doctor Saraswathy Ganapathy and had two children.
Sources & photo credit
Biography and career ↗Further source ↗Original photograph. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
Photo: Pushkarv. CC BY 3.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
