Noted actor, filmmaker and playwright Girish Karnad passed away on Monday. He turned 81 last month on May 19th. Karnad succumbed to a prolonged illness at his residence in Vittal Mallya Road, Bengaluru, a staff from the Cubbon Park Police station, under whose jurisdiction the legendary writer lived, confirmed the sad demise. Karnad predominantly worked in South Indian cinema and Bollywood. He rose to prominence with his coming of age of modern Indian play writing in Kannada. He was a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honor conferred in India. He was also conferred the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, and had won several accolades for direction in Kannada cinema.
His Hindi movies include Nishaant, Manthan, Swami and Pukar. He had acted in a number of Nagesh Kukunoor films, starting with Iqbal, in which Karnad played the role of a ruthless cricket coach. This was followed by Dor, 8 x 10 Tasveer and Aashayein. In 2012, he played the role of RAW chairman, Shenoy, in Salman Khan-starrer Ek Tha Tiger. He reprised his role of Shenoy in Tiger Zinda Hai.
PM Narendra Modi and Karnataka CM H D Kumaraswamy also tweeted their condolences for the iconic film and theater personality.
