After the news of Jnanpith award winner Girish Karnad’s death broke on social media, members of the film fraternity including Kamal Haasan, Shabana Azmi, Manoj Bajpayee and Madhur Bhandarkar took to Twitter to mourn the demise of the veteran playwright, screenwriter, actor and director.
Karnad died at his residence in Bengaluru on Monday morning. He was 81. The veteran artist is survived by his son Raghu, a writer and journalist.
“Girish Karnad, his scripts both awe and inspire me. He has left behind many inspired fans who are writers. Their works perhaps will make his loss partly bearable,” tweeted Haasan.
“Deeply saddened to learn about Girish Karnad. Haven’t yet been able to speak with his family. It’s been a friendship of 43 years and I need the privacy to mourn him. I request the media to kindly excuse me from giving quotes,” tweeted Azmi.
“Huge huge loss for the world of theatre cinema and literature! The creative world will always be indebted to him. We lost our inspiration. Girish Karnad sir,” wrote Bajpayee.
Kabir Bedi wrote: “Deeply saddened by the passing of playwright Girish Karnad. My biggest break in theatre was playing the title role in his ‘Tughlaq’, directed by Alyque Padamsee, which led me into the film industry in 1970s. One of India’s great playwrights, immortalised by his creativity.”
Bhandarkar said: “Deeply saddened by the news of demise of Girsh Karnad ji. He will be remembered for his work as a theatre personality, film actor, and director. My deepest condolences to his family, friends and fans.”
