The death of legendary film maker Shyam Benegal is a huge loss for the art of cinema in India. Just 10 days back, he had celebrated his 90th birthday. Shyam Benegal rose at a time when the so called Hindi cinema or Bombay cinema had lost track and most of the films there might have been commercially successful but lacked serious themes that addressed the real issues of our lives. Cinema was become more and more vulgar and nothing substantial was expected from it. That was the time when he invested in new artists and creative people with serious themes and made films which were termed by the ‘professionals’ as ‘art cinema’ but the fact was it was basically cinema which discussed serious issues through cinema.
We remember him for his remarkable films Ankur, Nishant, Manthan, Bhumika, Mandi, Junoon, Arohan etc.
Critique blamed him for making films for the ‘sake’ of art but the fact was that it was not a ‘art cinema’ as such but cinema of the people without imposed ‘obscene pelvic movements’, which became the order of the day for our cinema to ensure it become ‘hit’. So it can be said that he was far away from the Masala cinema that grew up in the 1980s and later 1990s onwards.
But for young generation in 1980s when doordarshan entered into our bed rooms, Shyam Benegal’s ‘Bharat ek Khoj’, based on Jawahar Lal Nehru’s ‘Discovery of India’ provided every one a sense of history and understanding of the past. It was first serious attempt to understand the idea of India. Even today, it is one such programme which is extremely popular and watchable.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Get the latest CounterCurrents updates delivered straight to your inbox.
Later, Benegal made a film on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose but the other big service that he did was the 10 part series on our Constitution, known as Samvidhan, made for the Rajya Sabha Television. It is one such thing which must be seen by all the citizens of the country and they will realise how our Constitution came into being, the efforts made by our Constitutional forefathers and how Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar worked day and night and responded to critical points.
Our Condolences and tribute to Mr Shyam Benegal and his creative genius.
Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a political commentator
