Bengaluru: Jnanpith winner and noted theatre personality, actor and playwright Girish Karnad passed away at his home here on Monday, the Karnataka Chief Minister’s Office confirmed. He was 81.
Awarded the Padma Shri in 1974 and the Padma Bhushan in 1992, Girish Karnad was born on May 19, 1938, in Mumbai (then Bombay Presidency), and was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, where he wrote his first play – the critically-acclaimed “Yayati” in 1961.
Other acclaimed plays written by him include “Tughlaq” (1964), “Hayavadana” (1972).
He was also active in the world of cinema; he made his acting and screenwriting debut in a Kannada movie “Samskara” in 1970.