Girish Karnad passes away; Ali Abbas Zafar says he was 'the guiding force' behind Tiger Zinda Hai

_Bharat_ director Ali Abbas Zafar says the demise of Girish Karnad , veteran actor, director and Kannada playwright, is a huge loss to the nation. [caption id=“attachment_6784451” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Girish Karnad in a still from Tiger Zinda Hai. YouTube[/caption] “It is a great loss, not only to us but to the entire film industry and the entire nation. He was a thorough gentleman, so knowledgeable — writer, director, actor and a very warm person. For me, it is a personal loss because I have had so many great conversations with him during the making of Tiger Zinda Hai. He was the guiding force. Whenever I shared some material with him, I would have some great conversations. He was actually a scholar of literature, cinema. We have very few people like him in the industry,” says Ali. Ali directed the veteran actor in the second instalment of Yash Raj Films’ spy thriller Tiger franchise, in which Karnad reprised his role of Dr. Shenoy, the RAW chief who recruits Salman Khan on a key covert mission. “My conversation with him would be about everything — from literature to life. And because he was a writer himself, he used to speak a lot about writing. When he read the script of Tiger , I told him that I should narrate it to him. But he said, ‘No, no, I want to read it because when you read it, you understand much better and there’s a lot of clarity’. What I clearly remember is that he told me, ‘Ali, what is there on paper is gold, so try to bring out your best while writing.’ Ali also reveals that he was considering to cast Karnad again in the third instalment of the franchise, that would also star Salman and Katrina Kaif in their previous avatars. “I would say that he was a very important part of the Tiger franchise and we were looking forward to working with him again. Salman (Khan) also had a huge connect with him. We are standing with the family and we hope that his soul rests in a better place,” says Ali. Karnad breathed his last at the age of 81 at his Laveli Road residence in Bengaluru, after battling prolonged illness. With inputs from Seema Sinha. _(Also read — Girish Karnad passes away: Kamal Haasan, Siddharth, Arvind Kejriwal among others tweet condolences)_