Broken Images

Broken Images is a Class 12 GSEB English drama from the Kaleidoscope textbook, written by Girish Karnad. Karnad was a contemporary writer, playwright, actor and film director, and his works often use history and mythology to examine contemporary issues. This play focuses particularly on personal and academic values and the question of bilingualism.
 

The play centres on Manjula Nayak, a Kannada short-story writer and former English lecturer who unexpectedly becomes internationally successful after writing her first novel, The River Has No Memories, in English. During a television broadcast, she discusses why she chose English, the criticism she faced for supposedly betraying Kannada, and the relationship between her novel and her physically challenged sister Malini. 
 

The drama explores bilingualism, language politics, identity, creativity, jealousy, guilt, sibling relationships, self-deception, literary success, and the conflict between public image and private reality. Malini never appears physically in the play, yet she remains central to it through Manjula's memories and the Image's questioning.