Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 24: Renowned filmmaker and screenwriter Shyam Benegal, a pioneer of Indian parallel cinema, passed away on Monday at the age of 90. He breathed his last at 6:38 pm at Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai, where he had been undergoing treatment for chronic kidney disease.
BJP MP and actor Ravi Kishan expressed his deep sorrow over Benegal’s death. Reflecting on their professional relationship, Kishan, who starred in Benegal’s Welcome to Sajjanpur, described the filmmaker as a guiding figure during his early career. “It is a personal loss for me. When I was struggling to find my identity, Shyam Benegal gave me Welcome to Sajjanpur. I learned so much from him. He was extraordinary, dedicated to art, and a true messiah of parallel cinema. His focus was always on the message of his films, never on box-office collections. I will miss him,” said Kishan.
Benegal’s notable works, such as Ankur, Nishant, Manthan, and Bhumika, cemented his legacy as a key figure in Indian cinema, especially the parallel cinema movement of the 1970s and 1980s. Over the course of his career, Benegal won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi seven times and was honored with the V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.
Born on December 14, 1934, in a Konkani-speaking Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin family in Hyderabad, Benegal worked closely with actors from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and the National School of Drama (NSD), including Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, and Amrish Puri. His films were known for tackling relevant socio-political issues with depth and sensitivity.
Benegal’s most recent project, Mujib: The Making of a Nation (2023), was an India-Bangladesh co-production chronicling the life of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. The film, shot extensively in both countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, marked another significant achievement in his illustrious career.
In addition to his feature films, Benegal made substantial contributions to documentaries and television. His iconic television series Bharat Ek Khoj and Samvidhaan are widely regarded as milestones in Indian TV history.
Benegal also served as the Director of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) from 1980 to 1986 and was a member of prominent juries, including the 14th Moscow International Film Festival (1985) and the 35th National Film Awards (1988). His work continues to influence filmmakers and audiences around the world.