In Bengaluru the best way the theatre world can permanently listen to Girish Karnad’s voice is on pre-show announcements at Ranga Shankara. Karnad’s voice greets everyone requesting all to switch off their mobile. “Nothing is more satisfying than the thought that Karnad will be part of every show,” says Arundhati Nag of Ranga Shankara. “Girish Karnad disliked phones with jarring ring tones. He often said, ‘why can’t people avoid such tonal music,’.”
“The clarity in his voice is fantastic, it is endearing and even nicer that it has no put-on foreign accent,” says Hema Anantharaman, a regular theatre goer, and a former student of literature from Central College who has read several of Karnad’s books.
“I am unable to streamline my thoughts on him as a deep felt grief engulfs me. Who can forget how students from the English Department, vied with each other to be part of his Hayavadana ?” says Hema, noting that it was one of the most popular and the frequently-enacted plays.
Karnad originally wrote the play in Kannada. “ Hayavadana has been part of most syllabi and institutes use the play to teach the playwright’s journey on the path of theatre,” Hema adds.
A noted playwright, Karnad wrote in Kannada and English. He was a Jnanpith Award winner and recipient of the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. Karnad’s most famous plays include Yayati ( 1961), Hayavadana ( 1972) and Nagamandala ( 1988). Tughlaq ( 1964), a 13-episode play is set during the reign of Muhammad Bin Tughlaq, made him a name to reckon with among playwrights in the country.
Speaking about his love for Kannada and the Dharwad dialect, author Sudha Murthy, 68, says, “As a teenager I read so many of his works. I was curious about his North Karnataka accent. When I met him as a 20-something, I asked him about the accent and he retorted, ‘Why not, I love my background. I may be a Konkani by birth, but it is Dharwad Kannada that I grew up with. And so are my publishers.”
“Karnad was our hero when we were in college, and we were heartbroken when he went away to Oxford to study,” says Sudha adding Karnad had told her he regularly visited Manohara Grantha Mala, the popular publishers in Dharwad who has published most of Karnad’s Kannada books. “Karnad was part of the writers regular meetings. Gokak was also part of them.”
Talking of his film roles, Sudha says, he was unforgettable in films such as “ Samkaara , Swami and Ankur and also as Professor Higgins in Dev Anand’s Hindi remake of My Fair Lady , Man Pasand. His acting can be a model for emerging actors.”
Theatre artist and author Padmavati Rao says Karnad was always encouraging. Padmavati says she has translated four of Karnad’s plays — Bikhre Bimb,Pushp and the soon-to-be out Shaadi ka Album and Ubale Daane On Toast . “Though I have known and worked with him over 40 years, I did not expect him to release my book of poems. At the release he said he had always wanted to publish a book of poems, and that I had beaten him to it. And it was with some jealousy that he was releasing the book. What more could I ask for?”
