Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 24 : Popular lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar remembered the legendary filmmaker Shyam Benegal and his contribution to Indian cinema.
Speaking to ANI, he paid tribute to the late filmmaker and said, "...He gave a new thought process to Hindi cinema, there is no doubt about that, such people are rare, his place will always remain vacant. I want to tell the younger generation that watch his films again and carry forward his work..."
The filmmaker, best known for his contributions to parallel cinema, passed away on Monday at the age of 90. Benegal breathed his last at 6:38 pm at Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai, where he was being treated for chronic kidney disease.
Actor Dalip Tahil also paid tribute to the late filmmaker, saying " It was my good fortune that I got to do 3 films with 'Shyam Babu', I am lucky that he called me...in the last 50 years, I had a connection with him. the legacy he left, he was a gem for the whole world...he is the pride of the nation..."
Benegal's films, including Ankur, Nishant, Manthan, and Bhumika, established him as a pioneer of the Indian parallel cinema movement in the 1970s and 1980s. Benegal was honoured with the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi seven times and received the V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.
" All are very sad...I salute him, he gave so much to the (film) industry...we all will miss him," added Ila Arun.
'Khichdi' fame Anang Desai shared, "He had such a great distinguished career, he is no more and it is very a sad thing. He had a distinguished personality and his demise has created a great vacuum..."
Born on December 14, 1934, in a Konkani-speaking Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin family in Hyderabad, Benegal collaborated extensively with actors from FTII and NSD, including Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, and Amrish Puri.
His films left an indelible impact on audiences, addressing relevant socio-political themes with remarkable depth. His most recent project, Mujib: The Making of a Nation (2023), was an India-Bangladesh co-production depicting the life of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh.
Shot extensively in both countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, the biographical film added another feather to his illustrious cap. In addition to feature films, Benegal contributed significantly to documentaries and television. His iconic series Bharat Ek Khoj and Samvidhaan remain benchmarks in Indian television.
He also served as the Director of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) from 1980 to 1986 and was a member of prestigious juries, including the 14th Moscow International Film Festival (1985) and the 35th National Film Awards (1988).
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