By Himanshu Dhuliya
Anant Nag closes his door after repeatedly whipping Sadhu Maher in the final scene of ‘Ankur’. Shabana Azmi is crying loudly cursing the landlord and taking her injured husband home. We in the audience are deeply disturbed by the sexual and physical exploitation by the landlord, Anant Nag. Suddenly we witness on screen a child picking up a stone and throwing it at the windowpane of the landlord’s house; there is sound of the window glass breaking, the child flees, and the screen turns red! This was in 1974, Shyam Benegal’s first feature film.
The above climactic scene left me with many questions at age 16. Later, after discussions with my uncle, I understood the subtext of it. It suggested the awareness against exploitation and simmering of revolt. I was in the midst of understanding the New Cinema and discovered my ‘Master’. I followed him very closely, thereafter, ‘Nishant’ was furthering of his expression. The idea which he had floated in the end of ‘Ankur’ he executed in ‘Nishant’ when the villagers rise to slay the zamindar whose family had abducted the headmaster’s wife played by Shabana Azmi. It won the National Award for the Best Film. With ‘Manthan’, he completed his trilogy. But ‘Manthan’ was a promotional film made on the story of Verghese Kurian who set up ‘Amul’ and brought about the ‘white revolution’ in India on the basis of the ‘Cooperative Movement’. The film was ‘crowd funded’ –five lakh farmers of Gujarat sponsored it by donating Rs 2 each. It was the ability and vision of Shyam Benegal who made it into a landmark feature film with outstanding performances by Smita Patil and Naseeruddin Shah. Recently the film was restored digitally and shown at Cannes Film Festival and applauded. The film also won the National Awards for the Best Film and Best Screenplay.
He did not adhere to only one genre but made a bold shift to direct Smita Patil in ‘Bhumika’ in 1977, based on the autobiography of the Marathi actress, Hansa Wadkar. Deftly directed, the complex story set in the cinema world about the personal and cinematic journey of the protagonist played by Smita Patil and ably supported by Amol Palekar, who played her husband, Naseeruddin Shah, Amrish Puri and others. He had introduced Smita Patil in the children’s movies ‘Charandas Chor’ and ‘Manthan’ but, in ‘Bhumika’, she makes a strong impact in the central role. The film won the Filmfare Award for Best Film and Smita Patil received her first National Award for Best Acting. The film received the National Award for the Best Screenplay.
His name was established by then as the most distinguished director and Shashi Kapoor asked him to direct for his banner. ‘Junoon’ made in 1979 was based on Ruskin Bond’s story – ‘A Flight of Pigeons’ set in the backdrop of the 1857 First War of Independence. It was a multi-starrer with Shashi Kapoor leading the cast in the role of the Pathan, Javed, who falls in love with Ruth, the daughter of the English officer who is slain by the mutineers. The family takes shelter in Javed’s residence. The historical atmosphere, battle scenes, dramatic and romantic situations were absorbing and convincing. The performance of Naseeruddin Shah, the revolutionary brother of Javed, was distinct and convincing. The film was well received and got the Filmfare Award for the best film and direction. It won a total of six Filmfare awards. It also received the National Award for the Best Feature Film in Hindi and for Cinematography and Art Direction. By now it was established that Shyam Benegal could handle varied subjects and themes. He directed ‘Kalyug’ in 1981 for the Shashi Kapoor banner again. It was based on the epic ‘Mahabharat’; a modern interpretation set in a corporate family. Excellent casting, innovative screenplay and brilliant performances made the film widely popular and a reference material to this date. Shashi Kapoor played Karna, Anant Nag -Arjun, Kulbhushan Kharbanda – Bhim, Raj Babbar – Yudhisthir and Rekha was cast as Draupadi. Victor Bannerji came into limelight in the role of Duryodhan, unlike the traditional look of the character, he was lean and anguished.
He thereafter embarked on portraying varied and complex subjects as well dwelling into history, communities and other social subjects. His depth of exploration could be judged from his English film on Mahatma Gandhi, ‘The Making of Mahatma’ which had Rajit Kapoor in the title role. Shot mostly in South Africa it captures Gandhi’s early experiments in social mobilisation and its success and confidence which made him return to India and fight for freedom. South Africa was Gandhi’s training ground. Benegal kept making films till 2010 regularly. ‘Well Done Abba’ was made that year. After a long gap of many years, he directed a movie on Mujibur Rehman in 2023. Prior to that, in 2005, he directed a biography on Subhash Chandra Bose which had impressive dramatic moments and performances but did not live up-to expectations as the canvas was very wide and the war scenes required finesse.
He has perhaps a unique distinction of making films to promote a certain cause aligned to the government policy and yet these films are so rich in cinematic aspect and creativity that the element of educational purpose remains subdued yet makes it impact as if it were integral to the story. The first such film was ‘Manthan’ which has been discussed above. In 1987, he directed Shabana Azmi and Om Puri in ‘Susman’, in which Om Puri played the role of a silk saree weaver and Shabana Azmi played his wife, while Neena Gupta is portrayed as an art and craft promoter. The film depicts the laborious yet creative life of a weaver which is exploited by the people with money. The third such film was ‘Hari Bhari’ promoted by the Health Department and story was woven around a joint Muslim family in rural India and relevance of family planning.
However, his seminal work is ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ for Doordarshan in 1988. This was a 53 episode series dramatising and narrating the history of India as written by India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in his famous book, ‘Discovery of India’, written in jail during the Quit India movement. Roshan Seth plays the role of Nehru and appears on screen in between to narrate the story further – a sort of traditional ‘Sutradhar’, a ploy very well employed by the Director. Another uniqueness of the series was the loud recitation of ‘Vedic Shloks’ in the beginning of the episodes which created a remarkable atmosphere and filled the audience with expectation. This project gave opportunity to a large number of theatre artists in challenging and grand roles of historical figures, many were National School of Drama graduates looking for an opening. The presence of Naseeruddin Shah as Shivaji and Om Puri as Aurangzeb gave the series much respect and following. This remains a much profitable history lesson for citizens and children as well. He also made a 10 part documentary on the Constitution of India, titled ‘Samvidhan’ for Rajya Sabha TV in 2014 and it is a popular instructional film. Later in life he went to various international universities as a visiting Professor of Cinema.
He leaves behind a large body of work consisting of 23 feature films and numerous documentaries. His documentaries on ‘Nehru’ and ‘Satyajit Ray’ were much appreciated and awarded, too. What makes him a Master was his tremendous ability to make his artists perform. This was said by Satyajit Ray also. He identified acting talent and gave them opportunity. There is a School of Shyam Benegal Actors – Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rajit Kapoor, Girish Karnad, Sadhu Meher, Anant Nag, Supriya Pathak, Rajeswari Sachdev, etc. The performances which established as well as new artists gave in his films were different. A large number of the artists received many awards and appreciation and career openings through his cinema. The above was possible on account of the scripts he prepared in collaboration with his writers from the very beginning – Satyadev Dubey, Shama Zaidi, Vijay Tendulkar, Khalid Mohammad, Ashok Mishra, Girish Karnad, and others. He also mentored other artists under him, the most prominent was Govind Nihalani who was his Cinematographer and made similar but hard hitting cinema –‘Aakrosh’ , ‘Ardh Satya’ and ‘Tamas’ stand out. Shyam Benegal’s long list of 18 National awards and Dada Saheb Phalke Award is testimony to his talent. The wide media coverage which news of his death received is proof of his tremendous contribution.
We had forgotten Shyam Benegal; his death shook us with a jolt from our slumber to realise his immense contribution over the last 50 years. His cinema stands as a clear mirror specially to the present cinema makers – ‘Animal’, ‘Pathan’, ‘Jawan’, ‘Singham’, which are the nadir of Hindi cinema. Cinema can always be made with commitment, and one survives with limited commercial earnings. This was the ideology of Bimal Roy, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee and Shyam Benegal. Their cinema shall remain our saviour.
(The writer is Indian Navy veteran and editor of karmabhoomi.org.in).
