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The doyen Shyam Babu breathes his last

The director’s most recent work was the 2023 biographical “Mujib: The Making of a Nation”

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Shyam Benegal | IMDb/ Photo by Solaris Images

By Jyothi Venkatesh

Filmmaker Shyam Benegal, a giant of Indian cinema and undoubtedly one of the guiding lights of the Indian Parallel Cinema movement, passed away due to kidney-related ailments in Mumbai on December 23. He was 90. Known for films like his debut “Ankur”, “Mandi”, “Nishant”, “Mammo”, and “Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda” that explored social themes still relevant in the country through layered characters, the director ironically celebrated his 90th birthday just nine days ago on December 14. The director’s most recent work was the 2023 biographical “Mujib: The Making of a Nation”

Shyam Babu, as I used to call him, was always thinking ahead of his time Filmmaker Shyam Benegal, will be laid to rest on December 24. at Shivaji Park Electric Crematorium in Mumbai. The funeral will take place in Dadar at 2PM where friends, family, and colleagues will gather to honour the life of a true pioneer of Indian cinema.

In an interview to Filmfare, Rekha has gone on record that she is grateful that Shyam babu allowed her to “just be”. Because that according to her is the greatest gift a director can give to an actor — to bring out the very essence of the character and inspire the actor. It took the genius of Shyam Benegal to see beyond his looks, says actor Manoj Bajpayee who never imagined himself playing a royal and did so in the 2001 film Zubeidaa after the filmmaker convinced him.

The actor met Benegal a couple of years after his breakout role as the mafia don Bhiku Mhatre in the 1998 crime classic Satya by Ram Gopal Varma.”When I was working in Satya with Ram Gopal Verma, Shyam Babu sent me a message through Ram Gopal Varma. Varma told me only one thing, ‘Shyam Benegal wants to work with you. He wants to cast you in some role. I don’t know what the film is all about but you are not going to say no to anything that he offers.

That should be our regard and respect to that filmmaker, so you are going to say yes. You are not going to say no.’ “I was so grateful to Ram Gopal Varma that I decided that I will do whatever he gives me,” Bajpayee had told PTI in an interview. Manoj did say yes to Benegal’s film but was taken aback when he found that the role was that of Prince Vijayendra Singh of Fatehpur opposite Karisma Kapoor.

I will always be grateful to Shyam Babu for having encouraged me to edit the prestigious daily MAMI festival bulletin when the festival started way back in the 2000. He was the only father-figure in the festival besides Kiran Shantaram and Sudhir Nandgaonkar till Shyam Babu opted out and Anupama Chopra entered the picture as the Director of the film festival.

Also read: Remembering Shyam Benegal: A prolific career spanning a wide array of films

Amidst all his other hectic work, Shyam Babu used to sit with patience to reply to all my questions whenever I wanted his interview, at times even asking me to mail him my questions. I remember the time when Shyam Babu offered to give me a lift all the way to Peddar Road to attend the MIFF festival after attending an event where he was the chief guest.

I also remember what a staunch disciplinarian Shyambabu was. Though it is known that he does not like his actors to announce that they are acting in his films till he himself decides to announce their casting to the press, once Rajpal Yadav, by mistake due to his enthusiasm had blurted out in an interview to me that Shyam Babu had signed him to play the main lead in a film of his. The next thing we knew was that Rajpal Yadav was out of both his projects- Well Done Abba as well as Welcome to Sajjanpur as he was replaced by none other than Ravi Kisshen.

Like Ravi Kishen says, “Shyam Babu always gave priority to his artistes and not the commercial aspects of his films. He was more interested in what his actors were doing in front of the camera than the box office results of his films.” Shyam Babu was perhaps among the first few filmmakers who decided to make his film Manthan entirely by raising the funds via crowdfunding.

The film Junoon was based on Ruskin Bond’s fictional novella, A Flight of Pigeons, set around the Indian Rebellion of 1857.Though acclaimed as a masterpiece, unfortunately the film made Shashi Kapoor poorer as a producer.

Inderjit Sachdev, an actor on his own merit from IPTA and also the actor-father of actress Rajeshwari who has acted in many a Shyam Benegal film is shocked that Shyam Babu is no more. “It was just a few days ago that I attended his 90th birthday party in town. I have yet to see a director who is like Sham Babu who treated every artist alike and used to insist on his sets that lunch should be served to every one under just one shamiyana, whether he is a big star or a newcomer.”

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