Theatre directors remember the legendary playwright and actor Girish Karnad as one of those rare artists who are not born everyday. By Chahak Mittal
Why do plays and playwrights remain relevant and alive even after so many years of their establishment and demise? Why does Shakespeare still stand justified when we talk about society as a whole after 400 years? Why have Kalidasa’s quotes been reproduced time and again without even realising?
From being one of the pioneers in contemporary Indian theatre to dabbling easily in the South Indian and Bollywood blockbusters, actor and playwright Girish Karnad’s works have been ever relevant to the Indian society, creating an impact over millions of theatre connoisseurs, amateurs and novices. The legend passed away on Monday morning, succumbing to multi-organ failure at his residence, and it has been a huge loss to the Indian theatre scene and commercial cinema. The news has surely come as a shock to his loved ones as well for the Indian film and theatre fraternity.
Impresario Shobha Deepak Singh believes that talking about the loss of such legends brings only one thing to our conscience — “people like him are not born everyday.” She adds, “Karnad, one of my personal acquaintances, has been a very talented actor and playwright. It is only rare that we find such artists across.”
Gowri Ramnarayan, author and a theatre critic, believes that the loss of such legends is the first and foremost question and somehow, very “cliched.”
She says Karnad will be missed for not just his contributions to the Indian theatre scene but also for bringing about a change in people’s outlooks on things. She adds, “He was one of those people who intellectually made a huge contribution to people’s change of mindsets. This is something we are definitely going to miss because we don’t easily find such artists. He had the courage to speak out. He was not an intellectual in just the way he worked, but as well on how he influenced the way people thought and acted upon things. He made them think. But then every life has to end one day, it’s inevitable. But the legacy that he has left behind is that of courage and conviction, which is very rare.”
Hailing from Matheran, Bombay (British India), the playwright is known for his immense contributions to not just the South Indian theatre, but as well in the north. “Well, he didn’t take his works or theatre anywhere else. He just translated his Kannada works into English, which were later adapted by various authors and playwrights and performed in different languages. It’s the people who valued his worth who took forward his works,” says Ramnarayan.
Apart from multiple national film awards and a Sahitya Akademi honour, Karnad was also honoured with the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. From recreating the charm of the Old Fort in the city with Tughlaq and creating Hayavadana and Death by Beheading, showcasing the revolt and rebellion in the 12th century Karnataka, to fraying into the Hindi cinema with Shyam Benegal’s Nishant opposite Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil and Amrish Puri, the legend is known for his inimitable on-screen as well as on-stage presence. His stern portrayal of WT Srinivasan as Swami’s father was like a recreation of RK Narayan’s Malgudi Days, making the 1980s’ kids reminisce of their childhood.
Talking about his plays, she says that he was valued because most of his works stay relevant even to the present times. Even though there are countless phenomenal works by him, she says, but the one she considers as the most important one is, Death by Beheading. “The play which was written in 1990. It’s about a poet who was a minister to the king in the 12th century. He writes about the extraordinary rebellion and revolt that happened at that time in Karnataka. And it is so relevant to people even in today’s time. They protested for the individual liberty of thought and need for action.”
While one might try to look upon how did he influence other playwrights and directors, Ramnarayan says, “Karnad didn’t inspire people to follow him. He created some brilliant plays and people saw the possibility of the medium. He only influenced people to start writing plays and encouraged them to think about directing and creating a play. He made theatre a medium of expression for them, giving the freedom to actors and directors to interpret his plays with their own talent, imagination, initiative and experience and do not mistake it for understanding of the subject. By initiative and imagination, I would mean interpreting his plays through my experiences. Nobody knows what Shakespeare thought when he was writing a certain play. We have interpreted it through our own imagination.”
Actress and playwright Jalabala Vaidya, feels that the passing of Karnad has left a large void in the contemporary Indian theatre. “It is a void that can be filled only by his considerable body of work — from plays like Tuglak and Hayavadana from the 70s to the more recent ones like Naga Mandala and other plays, as well as his films in Hindi and Kannada,” says she.
Expressing his grief and condolences, theatre director Arvind Gaur, who also adapted Karnad’s Tughlaq, says, “A salute to Karnad, a brilliant storyteller and a fearless fighter. His demise has left me a deep scar on my life. He had inspired me to present and re-interpret Tughlaq in my own and imagination.”
He recalls the time in 1995 when he staged the play’s adaptation. “All the tickets to the play had been sold out and it was no less than a miracle.”