Girish Karnad, veteran actor and playwright, passes away at 81 in Bengaluru

'Jnanpith' award-winning playwright, actor and director Girish Karnad passed away at his residence early Monday morning, aged 81.

Karnad was a prominent playwright for four decades, often using history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues. His plays have been translated into English and several Indian languages and directed by directors like Ebrahim Alkazi, BV Karanth, Alyque Padamsee, Prasanna, Arvind Gaur, Satyadev Dubey, Vijaya Mehta, Shyamanand Jalan, Amal Allana and Zafer Mohiuddin.

He was conferred the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the Government of India and has won four Filmfare Awards, of which three are Filmfare Award for Best Director – Kannada and the fourth a Filmfare Best Screenplay Award.

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His sad demise has come as a shock to many fans who have taken to Twitter to pay their tributes to the veteran. 

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Karnataka BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa also took to Twitter to mourn the demise of the veteran actor-playwright. "Saddened to hear the demise of veteran actor-playwright and jnanapeeta awardee Sri. Girish Karnad. My deepest condolences to @RKarnad and his family", he wrote.