Remembering Girish Karnad’s love for FTII, Marathi

Remembering Girish Karnad’s love for FTII, Marathi

Pune: “While many might not be aware of Girish Karnad’s connection with Pune beyond the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), his autobiography has several mentions of his time in Pune when he was a child. He also had several friends in Pune’s theatre fraternity,” said Pune-based author and translator Uma Kulkarni, as she fondly remembered the renowned playwright, author, actor and director Girish Karnad.

Karnad passed away on Monday, at the age of 81. A part of several controversies owing to his ideologies and progressive outlook, the playwright once said, “If I write a play, I want it to be read 200 years from now.” Considering the popularity of his plays for over 50 years after he wrote them, that seems to be quite possible. “He was one of the most flexible writers I ever met. He never believed in leaving his works untouched once published, but made changes to them, considering the changing times and changing readers,” Kulkarni stated.

Marathi readers’ interests
While Kulkarni took up the work of translating Karnad’s autobiography ‘Adaatha Ayusha’, he made sure to make changes to it, that would make it interesting to Marathi readers.

“When he gave me the autobiography, he told me to skip parts of his time in Karnataka, as he thought that Marathi readers would not be able to connect with those. Instead, he wrote more about his association with Maharashtra, and Marathi,” Kulkarni said. 

“We added that in the Marathi version ‘Khelata Khelata Ayushya’. Such was his flexibility. While he first wrote his much-acclaimed play ‘Yayati’ in Kannada in his early twenties, while translating it into Marathi, he gave me a revised version of the play. Another one of his excellent works ‘Nagamandala’ has two different endings and still he would never stop any of the directors to make changes to his plays,” Kulkarni added.

With an excellent command over Marathi too, Karnad never left any of his works totally to the translators and would always read carefully and suggest changes to the translated versions with due consideration to his readers, Kulkarni said.

Shaping the Indian theatre
One of Karnad’s associates and friends, playwright Satish Alekar said that with Karnad’s demise, India lost the last of four giants who shaped Indian theatre since 60’s - the other three being Vijay Tendulkar, Badal Sarkar and Mohan Rakesh. 

“I knew Girish personally since the 70s when he was heading FTII in Pune. His plays reinvented Indian myths to give them contemporary relevance. He went further to even to subvert them and reappropriated them to give a new sense of aesthetics. Girish was a very transparent person who was always helping other young writers. I lost my senior friend and philosopher,” Alekar said.

Karnad’s stint at FTII, Pune
Girish Karnad was the only FTII Director who went on to serve as the Chairman too. While he served as director from January 1974 to December 1975, he was chairman of the Governing Council from 1999 to 2001. Karnad was also the first non-civil servant director of FTII.

“Karnad is remembered as an accessible administrator. He was straightforward, friendly and open. He was the youngest FTII Director at age 35, while some of the students were older than him,” said FTII Director Bhupendra Kainthola. 

Interestingly, he was one who he introduced the Integrated Course in the syllabus which required students of each of the film specialisations to learn about other specialisations early on. This continues till today in the form of ‘Common Course’, which newcomers attend during the first semester.

Loved by all at FTII
Speaking about his memories of Karnad, Director Saeed Mirza, who was a student at the institute while Karnad was FTII Director, said that although there were differences between him and the students, his tenure as institute’s director was loved and appreciated by all.

“Karnad stood for kind of India which is very large, generous and beautiful. He was a great intellectual who had courage and conviction to take on big names and he stood by his convictions till the end,” said Mirza.

Playwright of acute sensitivity
Sharing a similar story, FTII alumnus and currently, Dean at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) Kolkata Ashok Viswanathan paid his tribute to Karnad saying, “Karnad was an understated phenomenon; a playwright of acute sensitivity in a moribund world of compromise. I had the opportunity to work as the director of a few episodes from his ‘Swarajnama’, a commissioned serial for Doordarshan and found him to be a humane artist and a very agile political thinker. Despite the differences we have had with him as students,  I salute him for he was truly an intellectual giant who was incredibly self-effacing.”

Turning Point on DD
Amit Tyagi, an alumnus of FTII and a former dean at the institute, remembered Karnad as a humble and hardworking person. Tyagi also worked with Karnad when he directed him in a popular Doordarshan series in the 1990s.

“We worked together on several episodes of a science magazine programme for Doordarshan Turning Point. I was the one who roped in Karnad to do the job. I felt with his intellect and acumen, he was the right fit for that science show. I remember, one of the stories we did was on a museum of cockroaches and it began with Girishji reacting in various ways people react when they see a cockroach,” said Tyagi.

FTII students pay tribute
“Karnad was one of the true visionary directors and chairmen that our Institute has ever had. I don’t think that any of the recent authorities here has displayed that kind of an artistic vision,” said Rajarshi Majumdar, a student of FTII.

Majumdar, who is the General Secretary of FTII’s Students Association, echoes the sentiments of several students at the Institute who had gathered together to pay tribute to the visionary.

Tributes pour in from the industry
“He was a highly intelligent person, great scholar and someone who loved freedom. He was absolutely logical in his approach. He was a pleasant person. A brilliant playwright, he was part of national emergence of theatre in 60s and 70s. Badal Sarkar from Bengal, Vijay Tendulkar (Maharashtra), Mohan Rakesh (Hindi) and Karnad (Kannada) emerged during those times and these four contributed immensely to national theatre. The plays by Karnad like Tughlaq, were adapated in Marathi. Karnad’s works were based on myth, which was the centre of his stories. The myths related to history, mythologies, beliefs. The lyrical qualities of his mythical plays gave a chance to actors and directors to think. He experimented a lot, not just in plays, but in his films too.”
— Filmmaker Dr Jabbar Patel, who had directed Karnad in the National Award winning film Umbartha

“It’s so sad to hear about him because I have grown on his films. Swami is one of my favourite films. He was such a gentleman, and I feel his goodness showed in his eyes as an actor. He was an amazing playwright. The last film I saw was Flowers that was written  by him. This generation has lost another gem.”
— Actor Divya Dutta, who has shared the screen with Karnad in Chalk & Duster. 

“I will never forget the smile! So simple, pure and warm. Working with him in my very first film was more than a great honour. Always helpful, caring, supportive and encouraging. His immense contribution to the industry as a writer, director and an actor will never be forgotten. Girish Karnard sir you will always be in my prayers. We will miss you.” — Actor Shreyas Talpade,
 who has worked with Karnad in Iqbal. 
 

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