Mumbai: Exit novelist and playwright Kiran Nagarkar. He died in Mumbai on Thursday evening, having led a full life, at 77. Earlier this week, he suffered a massive brain haemorrhage, online portals said.
Nagarkar, who was born in Mumbai in 1942, published his first novel, 'Saat Sakkam Trechalis', in Marathi in 1974.
Besides seven novels in English, Nagarkar’s latest, 'The Arsonist', was published this year. Nagarkar worked as an academic, journalist and screenplay writer.
His works include 'God’s Little Soldier' (2006),
'The Extras' (2012),
'Rest in Peace' (2015), and 'Bedtime Stories'.
Nagarkar was one of the many personalities accused of harassment, when the #MeToo allegations hit the country in October last year. Three women journalists on social media had accused him of making unwelcome physical contact with them.
Nagarkar, once famously, remarked in an interview: Is fiction powerful? Pat came his response to the loaded question. ‘‘Only if people are paying attention. But who’s paying attention?”
People surely paid attention to Nagarkar. In 1997, his most acclaimed novel, Cuckold, was published. Nagarkar was honoured with the HN Apte Award for the best first novel, the renowned Sahitya Award and the Dalmia Award for furtherance of communicative harmony through literature.
He also received a Rockefeller grant and was awarded a scholarship by the city of Munich. Main input – News 18
