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Babukodi Venkataramana Karanth ((カンナダ語:ಬಾಬುಕೋಡಿ ವೆಂಕಟರಮಣ ಕಾರಂತ್); 19 September 1929 – 1 September 2002) was a renowned film and theatre personality from India. Throughout his life he was director, actor and musician of modern Indian theatre both in Kannada as well as Hindi, and one of the pioneers of Kannada and Hindi new wave cinema. He was an alumnus of the National School of Drama (1962) and later, its director. He has directed many successful plays and has directed award winning Kannada movies. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri. ==Biography== Born in Manchi, a village near Babukodi in Bantwal taluk of Dakshina Kannada district in 1929, Karanth's passion for theatre started at an early age. His first tryst with theatre was when he was in standard III – he acted in ''Nanna Gopala'', a play directed by P.K. Narayana. He then ran away from home and joined the legendary Gubbi Veeranna drama company where he worked alongside Rajkumar who also was starting out then as a novice. Gubbi Veeranna sent Karanth to Banaras to do his Masters in Arts where he also underwent training in Hindustani music under Guru Omkarnath Thakur. Thereafter, along with his wife, Prema Karanth, Karanth set up "Benaka", one of Bangalore's oldest theatre groups. It is an acronym for Bengalooru Nagara Kalavidaru. Then, Prema took up a teaching job in Delhi and supported Karanth through the National School of Drama. He was to return the compliment after he graduated from the NSD, and eventually became its director. He later graduated from the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi, in 1962, then headed by Ebrahim Alkazi. Between 1969 and 1972, he worked as a drama instructor at the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, New Delhi after which the couple returned to Bangalore. Here Karanth dabbled in some cinema as well as music and was involved with the likes of Girish Karnad and U.R. Ananthamurthy in these ventures. He then returned to the NSD, this time as its Director in 1977. As the director of NSD, Karanth took theatre to far-flung corners of India. He conducted several workshops in places far away as Madurai in Tamil Nadu. After his stint as the director of NSD, the Madhya Pradesh government invited him to head the Rangamandal repertory under the aegis of the Bharat Bhavan. After rendering yeoman service to the theatre scene in Madhya Pradesh between 1981 and '86, Karanth returned to Karnataka. It was alleged by the MP Police that he was having an affair with one actress-Vibha Mishra, where in a drunk state, he poured Kerosene over her, and burnt her. However, Vibha, after recovering from her injuries, gave a statement that proved Karanth's innocence and freed him from the charges of an attempt to murder. He was criticised bitterly by Women activists and was forced to move out of Bhopal. In 1989, the Karnataka government invited him to set up a repertory in Mysore, which he named Rangayana and headed until 1995.〔(A genius of theatre ) The Hindu, 11 October 2002.〕
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