Shyam Benegal – The boy from Alwal who put Hyderabad on the national film map

Film director Shyam Benegal during his visit to Indywood Film Carnival 2016 in Hyderabad. File photo Photo Courtesy: KVS Giri

“Shyam is a son of Alwal. He lived here. He swam in the wells here. His first films were made in Hyderabad and its surrounding villages,” said filmmaker B. on receiving information about the demise of Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner Shyam Benegal. Narasimha Rao said.

“When Shyam went to Bombay, he did not have enough money and traveled on a friend’s brother’s railway pass and stayed at the house of Geeta Dutt, who was related to him and worked at Blaze Advertising,” Mr Rao recalled. Said while doing. Also from Alwal and has followed the work of Shyam Benegal.

Not just shooting films in and around Hyderabad, Shyam Benegal also used Makhdoom Mohiuddin’s poems for his film, including “Phir Chidiya Raat Phoolon Ki” sung by another Hyderabad boy, Talat Aziz, for the film. Was also included. marketIn 2009 he starred in the successful film ‘Well done father‘Partly based on the story Narsaiyan stepwell By Jilani Bano.

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Born on 14 December 1934 in Alwal, Shyam Benegal witnessed India’s freedom struggle and later studied at Nizam College. In one of his anecdotes he narrated how he and his friends threw stones inside the propeller of the plane of Sydney Cotton who had brought arms to help the Nizam fight the Indian Army.

“He used to cycle from Alwal to Nizam College. Would you believe it? He was the state cycling champion and state swimming champion. And he also edited the Nizam College magazine collegian For two consecutive years,” informed his longtime associate Shankar Melkote, who played a lawyer in NishantMr. Melkote, three years junior to Shyam Benegal, said, “He always responded to messages and calls, so when there was no response to birthday wishes on December 15, I expected the worst because he was no stranger to responding to messages. I was very honest.” In Nizam College.

movie Nishant (At the End of the Night) highlighted the Telangana armed conflict and was turned into a film in collaboration with playwright Vijay Tendulkar after he published in a newspaper how feudalism affected civilians and women in the villages of Telangana. “It was shot in Gundlapochampalli village and stars Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, Girish Karnad and others. Market Shot in Bhongir village. first movie sprout Was shot in Kapra Municipality. For susmanFor a film that showed the changing dynamics of a village due to rapid industrialization, Shyam Benegal chose Pochampally village,” said Mr. Rao. These films were made at a time when India was in the throes of action-packed films produced by mainstream producers, making them what Shyam Benegal called ‘parallel films’. when he directed india lose oneFor this film based on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s Discovery of India, Shyam Benegal approached VK Murthy, who had done cinematography for Guru Dutt’s films. The result was a perfect play of light and shadow in 1988. And it reminds of the time Shyam Benegal spent in his father’s photo studio in Secunderabad’s Lal Bazaar area.

It was here that Shyam Benegal learned about films, development and printing, when his father Sridhar Benegal gifted him a camera.