Parallel cinema pioneer Shyam Benegal dies days after 90th birthday

MUMBAI: Shyam Benegal, who heralded a new era in Hindi cinema with the 'parallel movement' in the 1970s and 1980s with classics such as "Ankur", "Mandi" and "Manthan", died on Monday after battling chronic kidney disease. He was 90.

The filmmaker, a star in the pantheon of Indian cinema's great auteurs, died at Mumbai's Wockhardt Hospital where he was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

"He passed away at 6.38 pm at Wockhardt Hospital Mumbai Central. He had been suffering from chronic kidney disease for several years but it had gotten very bad. That's the reason for his death," his daughter Pia Benegal told PTI.

He is survived by his daughter and wife Nira Benegal.

Just nine days ago, on his 90th birthday, actors who had worked with him through the decades gathered to wish him on the landmark day, almost as a last sayonara to the filmmaker who had given them perhaps the best roles of their careers.

Among those who had gathered were Shabana Azmi, who made her debut with the powerful "Ankur" in 1973, Naseeruddin Shah, Rajit Kapoor, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Divya Dutta and Kunal Kapoor.

That photograph of a smiling Benegal with his actors down the ages is his last in public.

In his prolific almost seven-decade career, Benegal straddled diverse worlds, diverse mediums and diverse issues, right from rural distress and feminist concerns to sharp satires and biopics.

His oeuvre encompassed documentaries, films and epic television shows, including "Bharat Ek Khoj", an adaptation of Jawaharlal Nehru's "Discovery of India", and "Samvidhaan", a 10-part show on the making of the Constitution.

And he wasn't calling it quits anytime soon.

“I’m working on two to three projects; they are all different from one another. It’s difficult to say which one I will make. They are all for the big screen,” Benegal told PTI just last week on the occasion of his 90th birthday.

He also spoke of his frequent visits to the hospital and that he was on dialysis.

“We all grow old. I don’t do anything great (on my birthday). It may be a special day but I don’t celebrate it specifically. I cut a cake at the office with my team."

His films include "Bhumika", "Junoon", "Mandi", "Suraj Ka Satvaan Ghoda", "Mammo", "Sardari Begum" and "Zubeidaa", most counted as classics in Hindi cinema.

His biopics include "The Making of the Mahatma" and "Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero".

The director's most recent work was the 2023 biographical "Mujib: The Making of a Nation". He was also keen to bring to life the story of Noor Inayat Khan, the secret WW II agent. That dream will sadly remain unfulfilled.

Benegal's "Manthan" on Varghese Kurien's milk cooperative movement in Anand, Gujarat, starring Smita Patil, Girish Karnad and Naseeruddin Shah, was restored and screened at the Cannes Classics segment in the French riviera town in May this year.

Tributes to Shyam Babu, as he was known to friends and colleagues, who rewrote the rules of Indian movies poured in.

Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur said Benegal created 'new wave' cinema and will always be remembered as the man who changed the direction of Hindi cinema with films like "Ankur" and "Manthan".

"He created stars out of great actors like Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil. Farewell my friend and my guide," he added.

Actor-director Atul Tiwari said, "It is difficult to believe but our icon Mr Shyam Benegal is no more."

"Go well Shyam babu. Thank you (for) inspiring many like me. Thank you for the cinema. Thank you for giving tough stories and flawed characters such amazing dignity. Truly among the last of our greats."

Akshay Kumar described him as one of the finest filmmakers in the country.

"If there is one thing Shyam Benegal expressed best: it was the Poetry of the ordinary face and ordinary lives," director Sudhir Mishra said.

"Much will be written about Shyam Benegal but for me not many talk about the fact that there was a lament in his films and a sadness about the fact we were not living in the best of all possible Worlds," he added.