Veteran director and screenwriter Shyam Benegal dies at 90 ::: Film 'Mujib: The Making of a Nation' was also directed by him

One of the pioneers of parallel cinema Shyam Benegal expired on Monday, Dec 23.

He was inherently simplistic as a filmmaker but was always very very deep !

He will be fondly remembered for films such as Manthan, Ankur and Mandi,. Most of his works were released in the mid-70s or 80s, and came to be known as part of "parallel cinema" or the"art films". 

Paradoxically in some ways his death has come at a time when Bangladesh is in turmoil and the Pakistan and American Deep-state backed regime in Dhaka is now in the process of disowning Mujibur Rahman.

The film 'Mujib: The Making of a Nation' -- a co-production between Bangladesh and India, was also directed by Shyam Benegal and it stars Arifin Shuvoo in the titular role. 

Through 'Manthan' he paid tributes to the kick-starting of Dairy Farm business in Gujarat. That film also gave Indian cinema a much talented Smita Patil. 

In 2002, during my posting in Mumbai with Press Trust of India, I used to interact with him. 

When Shatrughan Sinha and Vinod Khanna, two former cine starts, entered Atal Bihari Vajpayee's team and Shotgun Sinha was given the Health Ministry and Vinod Khanna was made Minister of State for Tourism, Benegal had welcomed the move saying for the first time an ex film star has been such a key responsibility in the union cabinet. 

Benegal was honoured by the central government with the Padma Shri in 1976 and the Padma Bhushan in 1991. 

Shyam Benegal, born on December 14, 1934, in Hyderabad, hailed from a Konkani-speaking Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin family. 

His father, Sridhar B. Benegal, originally from Karnataka, was a photographer who inspired Shyam’s early interest in filmmaking. At just 12 years old, Shyam created his first film using a camera gifted by his father. 

He went on to earn a Master’s degree in Economics from Osmania University, Hyderabad, where he also founded the Hyderabad Film Society.

His illustrious journey in cinema also saw making of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero. 

The film starred an ensemble cast of Sachin Khedekar, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Divya Dutta, among others. 

The film depicts the life of the illustrious Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in Nazi Germany: 1941–1943, and in Japanese-occupied Asia 1943–1945, and the events leading to the formation of Azad Hind Fauj. 

Upon release, the film received wide critical acclaim at the BFI London Film Festival, and has garnered the National Film Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration, and the National Film Award for Best Production Design for that year.

The film was screened retrospectively on August 14, 2016 at the Independence Day Film Festival jointly presented by the Indian Directorate of Film Festivals and Ministry of Defence, commemorating 70th Indian Independence Day.