NEW DELHI: Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, a pioneer of India’s parallel cinema, passed away on Monday in Mumbai.

He celebrated his 90th birthday on Dec 14 with his leading actors Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah. His daughter Pia Benegal said he succumbed to a chronic kidney ailment after fighting it for several years.

Benegal transitioned to the big screen in 1973 with groundbreaking Ankur (The seedling) from a career in advertising films. With that movie he introduced Shabana Azmi and brought into Bollywood’s frame talent from south Indian streams, including Sadhu Meher and Anant Nag. But he would be equally remembered for tapping the raw talent of Smita Patil, the Marathi news reader on television, who became Hindi cinema’s loveliest actor for her dusky beauty and ability to emote complex characters.

Alert for his age his mind was still buzzing with plans when he spoke to PTI at the birthday bash he would usually shun. “We all grow old. I don’t do anything great (on my birthday). It may be a special day, but I don’t celebrate it specifically. I cut a cake at the office with my team.” He added: “I’m working on two to three projects; they are all different from one another. It’s difficult to say which one I will make. They are all for the big screen.”

Benegal’s first four feature films Ankur (1973), Nishant (Night’s end) (1975), Manthan (The churning) (1976) and Bhumika (The role)(1977) made him a benchmark for parallel cinema in India. His other notable works include Zubeidaa (2001) and Mammo (1994) among others.

Benegal won the National Film Award 18 times. Benegal received numerous accolades and gave the country some of its best films ever. In 2005, he was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India’s highest award in the field of cinema. Prior to this, in 1976, he was honoured with state awards, the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan for his unwavering commitment to the augmentation of the field of cinema. In 2018, he was awarded the V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award.

Known for his creative but simple storytelling, Benegal’s legacy recently received due acknowledgement at the Cannes Film Festival, where his 1976 masterpiece Manthan took centre stage in the Cannes Classics section.

The film, inspired by Verghese Kurien’s revolutionary milk cooperative movement during India’s White Revolution, was restored in 4K by the Film Heritage Foundation. This not-for-profit organisation, led by filmmaker and archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, has been instrumental in preserving cinematic gems.

The film was the first crowdfunded film in India, supported by 500,000 farmers who each contributed. This collective effort reflected the film’s theme of unity and empowerment, making it a testament to the “power of the people.”

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2024