• Iconic filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who heralded a new era in Hindi cinema with the ‘parallel movement’ in the 1970s and 1980s with classics such as ‘Ankur’, ‘Mandi’ and ‘Manthan’, died on December 23. He was 90.

• President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, political leaders, people from the film industry and other walks of life hailed Benegal as a master storyteller who redefined cinema, inspired all with his films and created stars out of great actors.

• Many said that a glorious chapter of Indian cinema has ended with his passing but his work will continue to be admired by generations to come.

Prolific arthouse auteur

• In his prolific seven-decade career, Benegal straddled diverse worlds, diverse mediums and diverse issues, right from rural distress and feminist concerns to sharp satires and biopics.

• The remarkable oeuvre boasts the documentary on another great, ‘Satyajit Ray, Filmmaker’, and televisions shows, the ambitious ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’, based on Jawaharlal Nehru’s book ‘Discovery of India’, and ‘Samvidhaan’, a 10-part serial on the making of the Constitution.

• His lens empathetic, rooted to the Indian reality and always political, Shyam Benegal was the arthouse pioneer who rewrote the rules of cinema with films such that blazed an alternate path to mainstream movies.

• One of India’s greatest directors, his works found an audience in the most discerning of global film circles.

• His films include ‘Bhumika’, ‘Junoon’, ‘Suraj Ka Satvaan Ghoda’, ‘Mammo’, ‘Sardari Begum’ and ‘Zubeidaa’, most counted as classics in Hindi cinema.

• Fondly called Shyam Babu by friends and colleagues, Benegal was a pillar of meaningful cinema of the 1970s and 1980s alongside Sai Paranjpye, Govind Nihalani, Mani Kaul, Saeed Akhtar Mirza, and Kumar Shahani.

• His biopics include ‘The Making of the Mahatma’ and ‘Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero’. 

• The director’s most recent work was the 2023 biographical ‘Mujib: The Making of a Nation’. 

• He was also keen to bring to life the story of Noor Inayat Khan, the secret WW II agent. That dream will sadly remain unfulfilled.

• Born in Tirumalagiri, now in Telangana, Benegal grew up with cinema around him. His father was a still photographer who also made short films. He was also a second cousin of film legend Guru Dutt.

• Benegal did his Masters in economics from Hyderabad’s Osmania University. He planned to take up teaching but decided against it. The young Benegal soon moved to Mumbai looking for work and initially thought about assisting Guru Dutt but gave up on that as he had his own ideas.

• Next, he took up a job as a copywriter at an advertising agency. After a while, his agency shifted him to the film department sensing his inclination towards the medium where he began making ad films until becoming a full-time filmmaker. He then made documentaries for the Films Division of India before making his feature film debut with ‘Ankur’.

• The title of his debut film, translating to seedling, was perhaps prophetic. ‘Ankur’, which delves into caste struggles and feudalism in a small village in India, was the first of his more than 25 films.

• Through his work, which was distinctly different and alternate to mainstream movies as audiences knew till then, Benegal made several stars out of great actors. There was Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah and Girish Karnad. And then there were those stars such as Shashi Kapoor and Rekha who gave arguably their best performances in ‘Kalyug’ and ‘Vijeta’.

• The filmmaking was both deeply personal and inherently political. Telling stories of class and caste struggles, feminist concerns, rural distress and community dynamics. The gaze was incisive, the themes serious and the treatment sometimes sombre and other times satirical.

• If ‘Kalyug’ is a modern day retelling of the Mahabharata, ‘Bhumika’ is a searing profile of a woman filmstar and her often exploitative relationships, ‘Mandi’ deals with a brothel and its occupants who deftly navigate the men in their lives and ‘Welcome to Sajjanpur’ about an aspiring novelist turned letter writer is an outright satire.

• Benegal’s ‘Manthan’ on Varghese Kurien’s milk cooperative movement in Anand, Gujarat, starring Smita Patil, Girish Karnad and Naseeruddin Shah, was restored and screened at the Cannes Classics segment in the French riviera town in May this year. 

• Benegal received many National Awards in his career. He got the Padma Shri in 1976 and the Padma Bhushan in 1991. In 2005, he was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India’s highest award in the field of cinema. Benegal also served as a Rajya Sabha MP from 2006 to 2012.

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