Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who pioneered the parallel film movement in India, passed away in Mumbai on Monday, December 23. The filmmaker was suffering from a kidney ailment for a while, and was admitted to Wockhardt hospital in Mumbai. His funeral will be held in Mumbai at 10 am on December 24.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of post-1970s India, Benegal received numerous honours, including 18 National Film Awards, a Nandi Award, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award (India’s highest cinematic honour), a Padma Shri, and a Padma Bhushan. The filmmaker had recently celebrated his 90th birthday in Mumbai.
Born in Hyderabad to Sridhar B Benegal, a prominent photographer, Shyam Benegal was the second cousin of the legendary Indian auteur Guru Dutt. He started his career as a copywriter before making his first documentary film, Gher Betha Ganga (1962), in Gujarati. His first four feature films—Ankur (1973), Nishant (1975), Manthan (1976), and Bhumika (1977)—established him as a pioneer of the new wave film movement of the period. He also served as the Director of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) from 1980 to 1986.
Benegal’s film Mandi (1983), starring Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil, is renowned for its satire on politics and prostitution. Later, working from his own story about the last days of Portuguese rule in Goa in the early 1960s, he explored human relationships in Trikal (1985).
Known for his evolution as a filmmaker, Benegal faced challenges during the 1980s when mainstream Hindi cinema was struggling at the box office, particularly after the introduction of videocassette recorders (VCRs). With funding for parallel cinema significantly reduced, many filmmakers in the movement struggled to make films. However, Benegal adapted to the changing times by turning to television. His show Bharat Ek Khoj (1988) is considered one of India's iconic television series.