On the fourth death anniversary of Jnanpith awardee Girish Karnad, director KM Chaitanya, veteran actors Arundathi Nag, Padmavati Rao, and author and playwright Vivek Shanbhag fondly reminisce about the thespian
Actor and thespian Arundathi Nag’s earliest memory of Girish Karnad are from the sets of Ondanondu Kaladalli – written by Karnad and starring her future husband Shankar Nag in the lead. “A young, denim-clad director with a cigarette in his mouth and completely in control of the situation. Cinema is such a fragmented art that your team needs to be completely with you. He had a good team, of course, but there was something about his style that – despite working in some of the most difficult conditions – helped create magic on screen,” says Nag.
On the fourth anniversary of Karnad’s passing, Nag says she misses the fun-loving senior whom she always looked up to. “It’s a loss for theatre, but it’s a greater loss for India. Here was a man who openly aligned himself with anti-establishment movements, while few dared to stand up. Hence, in Girish, we lost a role model,” Nag shares.
Karnad left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape. From introducing talented actors like Shankar Nag and Vishnuvardhan, writing and directing thoughtful plays like Tughlaq and Nagamandala to delivering memorable performances on stage and screen, the Jnanpith awardee showcased his artistic brilliance in many ways.
Among the actors that benefitted from his guidance is Padmavati Rao, sister of Nag. “I was 15 when I first met him. I had bunked my classes to go find him at Bombay labs, to ask if I could work on Ondanondu Kaladalli. When I met him, I was in awe. He was a bundle of affection and warmth, always available to guide you,” Rao says. Since then, Rao worked with Karnad for over 40 years.
The last time she met him was a week before his passing. She remembers the meeting acutely, “He had given me Crossing to Talikota to translate. I gave the final draft to him a week before his passing. When he started to read, I was leaving, and he asked me to sit with him. We talked for a while. I feel we both knew that it would be the last time we would meet,” she says.
Director KM Chaitanya, a long-time collaborator of Karnad, says, “He was a mathematical genius in writing. When we were shooting for Kanooru Heggadithi, I was his associate director. He would keep improvising, and I would ask him not to because it would disrupt filming schedules. But he assured me that it wouldn’t and asked me to rewrite dialogues in the scene he had improvised in a particular order. When I did that, the scene had completely changed, but the duration had remained the same.”
“There was a step change when Karnad burst into the Kannada theatre scene. The sensibilities and structure he brought into playwriting were unlike any other. His play Tughlaq, for instance, still remains relevant today, despite numerous productions. That goes to show the power of the play. He was able to create a metaphor about power and loneliness of a human being, which to the world, at that point looked like the story of a madman.” — Vivek Shanbhag, author and playwright