Cooperators cutting across party lines have paid glowing tributes to Girish Karnard who, depicted their struggle beautifully in the film Manthan. Directed by Shyam Benegal, the film was based on the story-line given by the milkman of India-Varghese Kurien and presented different shades of the cooperative movement.
It bears recall that actor-director-writer Girish Karnad, a legend in Kannada writing and theatre, died in Bengaluru on Monday”. He was 81. Karnad died at home at around 8:30 a.m. due to age-related symptoms.
“There will be no state funeral or ceremonies of any sort for Mr Karnad, as per the wishes of his family. Karnataka has declared a three-day mourning; Monday was declared a holiday for schools, colleges and government offices”, reports NDTV.
IFFCO, which had invited Girish Karnard as the speaker for its 26th Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial IFFCO Lecture in 2013 paid glowing tributes to the departed soul.
Remembering his contributions IFFCO MD Dr U S Awasthi tweeted” The world of art and culture has received a massive blow with the demise of famed actor and Padma award winner Girish Karanard. No one can forget his role in the film Manthan which was based on the theme of cooperatives. IFFCO family offers heartfelt tributes to the legend”.
Karnard a cine personality is also known for his intellectual prowess. He had been a Rhodes Scholar. His style of narration and his palette of thoughts on the subject cooperative- were fresh and interesting.
Karnard, a personality of tinsel world was able to establish connection between cinema and cooperative in his lecture. He started with recounting his first lesson in cooperative through the making of a film named manthan. “Even the dialogue and screenplay stemmed from cooperation as we struggled to give shape to an idea that had a weak plot and an untranslatable story”, he had said.
In the film Manthan, Girish Karnad became a true dairy cooperative spearhead team leader who challenged the vested interest, mainly portrayed by Nasiruddin Shah. Karnad fulfilled the expectations of Shyam Benegal the great director and the film became a hit with the dairy cooperative movement.