Famous filmmaker, director and writer Shyam Benegal passed away on 23 December. 90 year old filmmaker Shyam Benegal breathed his last at 6:38 pm at Wockhardt Hospital, his last rites will be performed today.
Shyam Benegal, who holds the record of winning 8 National Awards, is known for films like Manthan, Mandi, Aarohan, Bhumika, Zubaida. He is not only called the father of parallel cinema but his film Manthan was nominated for the Oscar Award. However, very few people know that this film was made with a donation of Rs 2 each from 5 lakh farmers, to see which people used to travel from village to village in trucks to reach the city.
From Amrish Puri to Smita Patil, Shyam Benegal introduced many great actors to cinema. His last film was 2023's Mujib: The Making of a Nation, which he made at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina. This film was controversial for many reasons, but the special thing is that it is the only film of its kind, which was jointly produced by two countries.
On the demise of Shyam Benegal, many artists like Dalip Tahil, Ila Arun, Sham Rawat shared important stories related to him-
India's first film made with donations, 5 lakh farmers had donated
The film Manthan (1976), directed by Shyam Benegal, won the Best National Film Award in 1977. This film was sent to Oscar that year. This was the first film in India which was made with donations.
The film Manthan received 2 National Awards for Best Feature Film and Best Screenplay.
Actually, this 1976 film was made on the White Revolution (Milk Revolution). The film's co-writer was Dr. Verghese Kurien. In 1970, Varghese started Operation Flood, which brought about the White Revolution in India and made India the largest milk producing country in the world. Seeing this, Shyam Benegal decided to make a film on it. In the era of masala films, no producer was ready to invest money on such a story.
In such a situation, co-author Varghese sought help from the villagers. He sought help from the village cooperative society, to which 5 lakh farmers were associated. Every farmer donated Rs 2 each for the film, due to which around Rs 10 lakh was collected. The film Manthan was made with this amount.
Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, Girish Karnad and Kulbhushan Kharbanda played important roles in the film. This film received 2 National Awards for Best Feature Film and Best Screenplay. The film was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Feature Film category that year.
The screening of the film Manthan was held at the Cannes Film Festival 2024. The film received a standing ovation.
When Shyam Benegal caught sight of Smita Patil, she became a heroine.
Smita Patil was once a news reader. One day she had come to anchor at the Film and Television Institute, where Shyam Benegal was also present at that time. Shyam Benegal liked Smita Patil so much that he immediately signed her in his film Charandas Chor. In this way, Smita started her acting career with this film in the year 1975.
After this, Shyam Benegal cast Smita Patil in the 1976 film Manthan, which proved to be the turning point in her career. Smita Patil also received her first National Award for Best Actress for the 1977 film Bhumika, directed by Shyam Benegal.
Smita Patil with Shyam Benegal.
Amrish Puri was once an agent, Shyam Benegal made the villain of Hindi cinema
Amrish Puri, who is called the most dangerous villain of Hindi cinema, was once an insurance agent, the credit for bringing him into films is given to Shyam Benegal. Actually, along with working as an insurance agent, Amrish Puri used to do small roles in films. He was also associated with Satyadev Dubey's theater group, where he met Shyam Benegal.
Shyam Benegal started liking Amrish Puri's voice so much that when he had to change the voice of an actor while making the film Ankur, he first thought of Amrish Puri.
It was during dubbing that he realized the talent of Amrish Puri. In such a situation, when he made the next film Nishant, he gave the role of villain to Amrish Puri in it. In this way, Amrish Puri started the second innings of his career as a villain with the 1975 film Nishant and became famous.
Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil were in important roles along with Amrish Puri in the film Nishant.
Work given to Dalip Tahil on the condition of cutting hair
Dalip Tahil told Dainik Global News Daily that I had worked in his first film Ankur. I was doing a stage play in Mumbai. Shyam Babu came to me and said, if you do haircut, I have a role for you. I am making my first film, Ankur, I am working in it. If you want to do it then come to Hyderabad.
In this way Dalip Tahil got associated with films and he started his acting career with the 1974 film Ankur. This film received 3 National Awards.
Dalip Tahil played the role of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in Shyam Benegal's television mini-series Samvidhan (2014).
Ila Arun said- He always used to say never ask when my shot will come.
After the news of Shyam Benegal's demise came out, Ila Arun said in a conversation with Dainik Global News Daily, he was like a father to all of us, especially to me. He not only introduced me to cinema but also trusted me. This is the end of parallel cinema.
He gave a lot to Indian cinema. I will remember him very much that he used to say that whenever you are shooting, never ask when my shot will come because there are many forms of filmmaking, never be restless. If you are kept in the film then you will be used.
It always happened that my turn came only after sunset and I used to ask them why my turn comes when everything has to be done quickly. Let us tell you that after making a name for herself in singing, Ila Arun started her acting career with Shyam Benegal's film Mandi. Eela was also seen in Benegal's 2008 release Well Done Abba.
Ila Arun with Shyam Benegal.
Mujeeb, the last film made at the behest of Sheikh Hasina, remained in controversies.
Shyam Benegal's last directorial venture Mujib: The Making of a Nation was controversial. This film was made on the greatest leader of Bangladesh, Mujibur Rahman. The then Prime Minister of Bangladesh and the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, both wanted Shyam Benegal to direct this film. With this, Shyam Benegal became the director whose film was produced by two countries.
In a conversation with Dainik Global News Daily about this, Sham Rawat, who was close to Shyam Benegal, said – I was with Shyam Babu for the last 24 years. I especially connected with him on Zubaida. Shyam Babu created parallel cinema with films like Ankur, Manthan. Through brainstorming, he also brought the concept of crowd funding for the first time in the history of Hindi films.
Mujib was his last film, it was based on the greatest leader of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Sheikh Hasina and our PM Modi ji both wanted to make him Shyam Babu. That film was made during the Corona period and lockdown period. With that film, Shyam Babu became the first director whose film was produced by the governments of two countries.
That film was made with a budget of Rs 70 crores. Actually, Shyam Babu had made the film 'Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose: A Forgotten Hero' with Sachin Khedekar in the year 2004, which Sheikh Hasina ji liked very much. In such a situation, almost 20 years later, when Mujeeb was planned, Sheikh Hasina thought of getting Shyam Babu to direct that film.
During that film, I and many crew members got Covid, but Shyam Babu remained strong-willed. He had a strange hesitation even wearing a mask on the set. He fell ill occasionally, but never took leave. He made the entire film responsibly and handed it over to both the governments.
Celebrated 90th birthday on 14 December
Sham Rawat further said, his health had definitely become a bit unwell since last year. He went on dialysis and was undergoing dialysis continuously since then. He breathed his last at 6:38 pm on Sunday 23 December at Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai. Even on his 90th birthday on 14th December, he came to the function only for 15 minutes. His friends had organized his birthday.
Sham Rawat with Shyam Benegal.
Shyam Babu's contribution is huge. The interesting thing is that he made a film like Manthan during the tenure of Congress, and a few decades later, during the BJP government, he made a film called Mujeeb. He used to do selective work, but was very busy. When he made the documentary series Bharat Ek Khoj during his time, it was shot for 3 years.
He was a great director, but he did not take advantage of it to make anything by taking a big budget from the producer. The casting was very good. He made Dalip Tahil the most handsome Pandit Nehru. I have never seen such a glamorous Nehru. Till now, in whatever series Nehru ji is being made, every actor looks very poor and destitute.
Filmmaker Shyam Benegal passes away: breathed his last at the age of 90; Made first film with father's camera, won National Film Award 8 times
Graphics Source: NavJivanIndia | VaskarAssets
