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Shyam Benegal passed into the ages on December 23, leaving behind a rich legacy. We look back at some interesting moments from his life.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Film History Pics/X
Shyam Benegal goes to Cannes with Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil, his leading ladies for many of his early films. Here, they are taking their film Nishant to the film festival in 1976.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Film History Pics/X
Shabana, in fact, has worked the most with him, in films like her debut Ankur (1974), Nishant (1975), Junoon (1978), Mandi (1982), Susman (1987), Antarnaad (1991) and Hari Bhari (2000).
Photograph: Kind courtesy Film History Pics/X
On the sets of a film.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Film History Pics/X
Shyambabu and Shabana shared a close bond lasting decades.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Film History Pics/X
Shyam Benegal and Smita Patil chat during the shoot of Charandas Chor, his only children’s film.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Film History Pics/X
‘People smirked when they heard I was playing a prince in Zubeidaa. They thought Manoj Bajpayee is not even good looking. How can he play a prince? But Shyam Benegal was not making a story on a calendar prince; he was making a story where the prince was real, someone who existed in our society,’ Manoj Bajpayee had once said of Shyam Benegal.
Here, he is seen with Karisma Kapoor, who played the film’s title role, and the director.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Film History Pics/X
A rare picture of legendary directors: Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal and Satyajit Ray.
Benegal directed a documentary on Ray in 1985, a classic study of the auteur.
Photograph: Rediff Archives
Adoor Gopalakrishnan, another directorial legend, second from right, joins Mrinal Sen and Benegal to address an informal gathering.
Photograph: Rediff Archives
Then President Giani Zail Singh felicitates Benegal at the National Awards in 1985.
Benegal won 18 National Awards in his lifetime. In 1985, he bagged an award for the English documentary Nehru, based on the life of India’s first prime minister.
Photograph: Rediff Archives
On the sets of his 1987 film, Susman, starring Shabana Azmi and Neena Gupta.
Photograph: Rediff Archives
In conversation with American Producer Muriel Peters, who passed away last year.
Photograph: Rediff Archives
Benegal’s The Making of the Mahatma premiered on Gandhi’s birth anniversary in 1996 in New Delhi and was attended by then prime minister H D Deve Gowda, hwn I&B minister C M Ibrahim, cast members Rajit Kapur and Pallavi Joshi and Benegal himself.
An international co-production between India and South Africa, it enjoyed its world premiere in Durban in a ceremony attended by then South African president Nelson Mandela.
Photograph: Rediff Archives
French actor Jeanne Moreau with Benegal at the inauguration of a film festival in New Delhi.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Film History Pics/X
Sachin Khedekar had said that he had been ‘very uncomfortable with the idea of shaving off his moustache’ but he was so convinced about playing the titular role in Bose: The Forgotten Hero that he grabbed the opportunity.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Film History Pics/X
Shyam Benegal directs Jisshu Sengupta, Sachin Khedekar and Divya Dutta on the sets of Bose.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Jayanta Shaw/Reuters
Ila Arun has worked extensively in Benegal’s films like Mandi, Trikal, Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda, Bose: The Forgotten Hero, Welcome to Sajjanpur, Well Done Abba and television serials like Samvidan and Bharat Ek Khoj and she shares some beautiful anecdotes here.
Here, she attends the world premiere of Bose: The Forgotten Hero in Kolkata on May 11, 2005.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Shabana Azmi/Instagram
Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah celebrate Shyam Benegal’s 90th birthday on December 14, 2024.
She captions this picture, ‘On #Shyam Benegal’s 90th birthday with my coactor of many films and my favourite actor @Naseeruddin Shah.’
Photograph: Kind courtesy Shabana Azmi/X
A beautiful reunion marking Benegal’s last birthday: Shabana Azmi, Shyam Benegal, Kunal Kapoor, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Naseeruddin Shah, Atul Tiwari, Rajit Kapoor and Divya Dutta.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff.com
