Renowned filmmaker, director and writer Shyam Benegal passed away on December 23. 90-year-old filmmaker Shyam Benegal breathed his last at Wockhardt Hospital at 6:38 pm, his last rites will be performed today.
Shyam Benegal, who has a record of winning 8 National Awards, is known for films like Manthan, Mandi, Arohan, Bhumika, Zubaida. His film 'Manthan' was nominated for an Oscar award. However, very few people know that the film was made with a donation of Rs 2 from 5 lakh farmers, who traveled from village to village in trucks to reach the city to watch it.
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 produced at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina. The film was controversial for many reasons, but most notably, it is the only film produced jointly by the two countries.
On Shyam Benegal's demise, many actors like Dalip Tahil, Ila Arun, Sham Rawat shared important stories related to him-
India's first film made with donations, 5 lakh farmers donated The film Manthan (1976), directed by Shyam Benegal, won the National Film Award for Best in 1977. The film was submitted for an Oscar that year. This was India's first film which was made with donations.
The film 'Manthan' won 2 National Awards for Best Feature Film and Best Screenplay.
This 1976 film was made on Shwet Kranti (Milk Revolution). The co-writer of this film Dr. Varghese was Kurian. In 1970, Varghese launched Operation Flood, which led to the White Revolution in India and made India the world's largest milk producer. Seeing this, Shyam Benegal decided to make a film on it. In the era of masala films, no producer was willing to invest money on such a story.
In such a situation, co-writer Varghese sought the help of the villagers. He sought help from the Gramin Sahakari Mandal, in which 5 lakh farmers were affiliated. Each farmer donated Rs 2 each for the film, which raised around Rs 10 lakh. The film 'Manthan' was made with this amount.
Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, Girish Karnad and Kulbhushan Kharbanda played important roles in the film. The film won 2 National Awards for Best Feature Film and Best Screenplay. The film was nominated for an Oscar that year in the Best Feature Film category.
The film Manthan was screened at Cannes Film Festival 2024. The film received a standing ovation.
Shyam Benegal made Smita Patil the heroine Smita Patil was once a news reader. One day she came 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'. Thus Smita started her acting career in the year 1975 with this film.
Shyam Benegal then cast Smita Patil in the 1976 film Manthan, which proved to be the turning point of her career. Smita Patil also won her first National Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1977 film Bhumika directed by Shyam Benegal.
Smita Patil with Shyam Benegal.
Amrish Puri was once an insurance agent was, Shyam Benegal made the villain of Hindi cinema Amrish Puri, called the most dangerous villain of Hindi cinema, was once an insurance agent. Shyam Benegal is credited with bringing him to films. Along with working as an insurance agent, Amrish Puri also did small roles in films. He was also associated with Satyadev Dubey's theater group, where he met Shyam Benegal.
Shyam Benegal liked Amrish Puri's voice so much that when he had to change the voice of an actor while making the film Ankur, he thought of Amrish Puri first.
It was during dubbing that he realized the talent of Amrish Puri. When he made his next film Nishant, he cast Amrish Puri as the villain in it. Thus Amrish Puri started the second innings of his career as a villain in the 1975 film Nishant and rose to fame.
Along with Amrish Puri, Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil were in important roles in the Nishant film.
Job given to Dalip Tahil on condition of haircut Dalip Tahil told Frontpage Insights, I worked in his first film Ankur. I was doing a stage play in Mumbai. Shyam Babu came to me and said, I have a role for you only if you cut your hair. I am making my first film Ankur, if you want to do it come to Hyderabad.
Thus Dalip joined Tahil films and started his acting career with the 1974 film Ankur. The film won 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 said that he did not ask when my shot would come After the news of Shyam Benegal's demise broke, Ila Arun said in a conversation with Frontpage Insights, He was like a father to all of us, especially me. He not only introduced me to cinema but also believed in me.
He has given a lot to Indian cinema. I will always remember him saying that whenever you shoot, never ask when my shot will come, because there are many forms of filmmaking, never be anxious. If you are hired in a film, you will be used. It always happened that my turn would come only after sunset and I would ask him why my turn came only when everything had to be done quickly.
After making a name for herself in singing, Ila Arun started her acting career with Shyam Benegal's film Mandi. Ella also appeared in Benegal's 2008 release Well Done Abba.
Ila Arun with Shyam Benegal.
'Mujib', the last film made at the behest of Sheikh Hasina, was mired in controversy Shyam Benegal's last directorial venture 'Mujib: The Making of a Nation' was controversial. This film was made on the great leader of Bangladesh, Mujibur Rahman. Both the then Prime Minister of Bangladesh and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi wanted Shyam Benegal to direct the film. With this, Shyam Benegal became the director whose film was produced by two countries.
In a conversation with Frontpage Insights about this, Sham Rawat, who is 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 Manthan, he also introduced the concept of crowd funding for the first time in the history of Hindi films.
Mujib was his last film, based on the great leader of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Both Sheikh Hasina and our PM Modiji wanted to make him Shyam Babu. The film was made during the Corona period and the lockdown period. With that film, Shyam Babu became the first director whose film was produced by the governments of two countries.
The film was made on a budget of 70 crores. Shyam Babu made the film 'Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose: A Forgotten Hero' with Sachin Khedekar in the year 2004, which Sheikh Hasina liked very much. About 20 years later, when Mujeeb was planned, Sheikh Hasina considered Shyam Babu to direct the film.
During that film, I and many crew members got Covid, but Shyam Babu was strong willed. Even wearing the mask on the set, he had a strange feeling. Sometimes he fell ill, but he never took leave. He made the entire film responsibly and handed it over to both the governments.
Celebrated 90th birthday on 14th December Sham Rawat further said that his health had deteriorated a bit since last year. He was undergoing continuous dialysis. He breathed his last at 6:38 pm on Sunday, December 23 at Wockhardt Hospital, Mumbai. Even on his 90th birthday on 14th December, he came to the function only for 15 minutes. His friends had planned his birthday.
Shaam Rawat with Shyam Benegal.
Shyam Babu's contribution is huge. Interestingly, he made a film like Manthan during the Congress tenure and a few decades later he made a film called Mujib during the BJP government. He was doing selective work, but very busy. During his time he made a documentary series called Bharat Ek Khoj which was shot for 3 years.
He was a great director, but he didn't capitalize on it by taking a big budget from the producer and making anything. The casting was very good. He made Dalip Tahil the most handsome Pandit Nehru. I have never seen such a glamorous Nehru. So far, in every Nehruji series, any actor in it looks very poor and destitute.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
