It is a comment on the ahistoric times we live in that a media outlet announced Girish Karnad’s death as “Tiger Zinda Hai actor dies at 81". Later, he wrote Hayavadana, based on Thomas Mann’s 1940 novella, The Transposed Heads, which itself echoed a tale from Kathasaritasagara. The Tipu Sultan controversy says more about the charged, divisive times in which we live. A quarter century later, when Karnad wrote Tipu Sultan Kanda Kanasu (The Dreams of Tipu Sultan) Bhyrappa criticized the play, as he disagreed with Karnad’s nuanced portrayal of Tipu. And to understand those values, he rediscovered the wisdom from India’s ancient stories to bring clarity to our ambiguous present.

Source: Mint June 10, 2019 11:07 UTC