New Delhi [India], December 24 : BJP MP Manoj Tiwari has termed the death of ace filmmaker Shyam Benegal a great loss to Indian cinema.
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.
While speaking to ANI, the BJP MP praised Benegal's contributions to cinema and shared, "Shyam Benegal ji's death is a big loss to our Indian cinema. Shyam Benegal is considered to be a big name in the field of artistic films. He brought such subjects to the silver screen which were about the problems of villages and very poor families. When I heard the news of Shyam Benegal's death, I was very sad and the entire Bollywood is sad at this time. Shyam Benegal ji earned a very big legacy and gave Indian cinema a very high place..."
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.
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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