A unique filmmaker who gave voice to the voiceless and documented the idea of India through his rich oeuvre, Shyam Benegal (1934-2024) passed away on Monday (December 23, 2024) at a hospital in Mumbai at the age of 90. has expired.
One of the pioneer sailors of the Indian New Wave, reality never escaped Benegal’s attention. In the 1970s, when Bollywood was looking for poetic justice through the Angry Young Man, Benegal captured the silent resistance of the marginalized people in feudal India in his film. sprout (1974), Nishant (1975) and churn (1976).
Reactions to the death of filmmaker Shyam Benegal live
Be they farmers or sex workers, his heroes questioned the prevailing social order with intense intensity without resorting to exaggeration, as the Dadasaheb Phalke awardee saw cinema as a medium that reflected the act of living. Could. Starting out as an advertising filmmaker, Benegal constantly experimented with form and technique and continued to evolve with time. The range of his subjects is unmatched as Benegal broke every boundary to document the changing contours of Indian society.
Budget has never been a hindrance to his vision. Born in Hyderabad to a photographer father, Benegal realized early on that there was nothing in the human experience that could not be depicted through the medium. He grew up watching the work of his second cousin Guru Dutt, but his real inspiration came from Satyajit Ray. Pather PanchaliLike Ray, his films were always released in theatres. He believed that the audience always stands in favor of meaningful cinema.
Music was an integral part of his cinema but not as a decorative device. The tension between Bhumika, Mandi and Sardari Begum breaks the atheistic customs of the society and leaves an imprint on Vivek. If his early works were rooted in idealism, satire gradually made its way into films as well. welcome to sajjanpur And Well done father,
Taking inspiration from the literary source, he adapted the Mahabharata as Kaliyuga in a corporate family. The film still speaks to us. Later, he reworked Dharamveer Bharati’s novel into the lyrical Suraj Ka Seventh Ghoda. He brought crowd funding into Indian cinema long before it became a trend and made films like classics churn, intonation And susmanHer heart-touching trilogy woven around Muslim women, Sardari Begum, Mammo and Zubaida, brought her back to the top tier in the 1990s.
He built a strong team of creatives with Govind Nihalani, Shama Zaidi and Vanraj Bhatia to realize his vision and introduced us to powerhouse talents like Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Rajit Kapoor, Salim Ghaus and Rajeshwari Sachdev. Throughout, he challenged the actors to go beyond their comfort zones. Be it Smita Patil and Amol Palekar in Bhumika or Karisma Kapoor in Zubaida, actors got a new lease of life at the hands of Benegal.
Someone who never wore his ideology on his sleeve, in The Making of Mahatma, he introduced us to the psyche of Gandhi before he became the Mahatma and with equal passion documented the life of Subhash Chandra Bose in The Forgotten Hero. His objective vision came to the fore in ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’, an adaptation of Jawaharlal Nehru’s The Discovery of India, where he reflected the spirit of India. It was his most extensive work which has stood the test of time. Not to forget the Constitution where he introduced young Indians to the Constitution.
Beneath that tough exterior was a gentle soul who went the extra mile to make his actors feel comfortable. Extremely humble, he was always ready to take criticism in stride.
Despite his age his passion did not diminish. In 2023, he came up with a fascinating biopic of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Remembering the times, as head of the committee formed to suggest changes in the functioning of the Central Board of Film Certification, he suggested far-reaching changes.
When Aamir Khan, a strong supporter of India’s pluralistic identity, spoke about the rising intolerance in Indian society, Benegal had said, “You can and you should raise your voice against intolerance. We are constitutionally bound to protect our minorities.”
published – December 23, 2024 10:52 PM IST
