P Lankesh, a sceptic and saint who ploughed a lonely furrow

Karnataka

By Muralidhara Khajane

January 25, 2023

It has been more than two decades since the demise of distinguished Kannada writer and pathbreaking journalist P Lankesh.

Karnataka

He is still a demi-god for hundreds of writers, journalists, and intellectuals of Karnataka.

Karnataka

Lankesh was a Lohiaite who taught English, wrote poetry, plays, and fiction. He founded Pragathiranga, a political platform.

Karnataka

Pragathiranga offered him first-hand exposure of the lives of the Kannada people, freeing his sensibility from the shackles of narrow modernism. But the platform didn’t work.

Karnataka

“He wanted to be in the system to set things right but he was neither diplomatic nor canny,” observed his daughter Kavitha Lankesh.

Karnataka

Nataraj, who identified himself as a “devoted student” of Lankesh, unabashedly argued that he is the best prose writer of the 20th century.

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While a generation almost adored Lankesh, some of his contemporaries in the 60s criticised his plays.

Karnataka

He founded Prathima Natakaranga, a theatre troupe while he was teaching metaphysical and modernist poetry at Bengaluru University.

Karnataka

He also directed four films in this period. The first film was Pallavi, which won him the National Award for Best Direction in 1977.

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His weekly column in Prajavani on current political issues became popular but was abruptly stopped because of pressure from the Congress government.

Karnataka

In no uncertain terms, it can be said that the void created by the death of P Lankesh, a creative personality with a compelling presence, has not been filled so far.

Karnataka