Veteran actor Girish Karnad passes away in Bengaluru

Noted actor and filmmaker Girish Karnad passed away on Monday morning at the age of 81 in Bengaluru . He was suffering from a prolonged illness. Karnad made his acting debut in a Kannada movie, ‘Samskara’ , based on a novel by U.R. Ananthamurthy and directed by Pattabhirama Reddy. That movie won the first President's Golden Lotus Award for Kannada cinema. His Hindi movies include ‘Nishaant’, ‘Manthan’, ‘Swami’ and ‘Pukar’ among others. The veteran actor was awarded with Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.