TRIBUTE TO BENEGAL

Shyam Benegal's demise: Remembering the great auteur's best works

Director Shyam Benegal who was one among the greatest auteurs of India's parallel cinema movement, is no more. The filmmaker-screenwriter had just celebrated his 90^th birthday recently. As the world mourns the loss of the star director, we take a look at some of his best-loved films in a career that spanned seven-decades.

'Manthan'
'Manthan', which is considered among Benegal's best works was based on the White Revolution in India, pioneered by Varghese Kurien. Benegal worked as the ad director for Amul and wanted to tell the story of the movement that had gained wide momentum across the country. The film was also the first crowd-funded project in Indian cinema with lakhs of farmers turning producers for the movie. The film was recently restored by the Film Heritage Foundation and National Film Archive of India, Prasad Corporation Pvt Ltd and L'Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory. The restored version premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year and later released in cinemas worldwide.

'Ankur'
This film was a powerful commentary on caste differences and explored the relationship between an upper-caste landlord and a dalit woman who comes to work with him. The film was Shyam Benegal's debut directorial and also marked Shabana Azmi and Anant Nag's entry into cinema. The film was also the first Indian movie to be made in colour. Recently, Shabana Azmi recollected how she found it difficult to sit on haunches though it was necessary for the character. Benegal, who was directing his debut film, made her sit on the corner of the dining area as a way of practising the gestures of the character.

'Nishant'
The film was yet another exploration of the power dynamics that existed in the villages in the 1960s. Unlike Ankur, the film mostly focused on sexual exploitation and dealt with a landlord and his sons who abduct and rape a schoolteacher's young wife. Though the villagers join hands to save the woman, she along with another innocent woman are killed in the process. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

'Bhumika'
This autobiographical work was based on the life and times of Marathi theatre doyen Hansa Whadkar and her rebellious and headstrong character as she arrives in Mumbai as per her grandmother's wish to make a career in the glamorous film industry. The relationship that marked the early stages of her career to the later stages, where she loses herself amid her quest for identity forms the crux of the film that featured the young Smitha Patil, who was considered Benegal's muse, though she died at a very young age.