The Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008) actor pays rich tribute to the filmmaker who passed away on Tuesday.
By Mayur Lookhar
Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal passed away on Tuesday (23 December) in Mumbai due to age-related illness. He was 90.
Actor Shreyas Talpade, who starred in Benegal’s Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008), paid a heartfelt tribute to the filmmaker.
Sharing his thoughts on working with the great man, Talpade told Beyond Bollywood, “I feel extremely honoured, privileged, and blessed to have worked with a legend like Shyam Benegal Sir. He was an institution in himself. Everyone who worked with him or came in contact with him was deeply inspired by the kind of person he was. He gave his actors immense confidence and freedom to improvise, ensuring their craft flourished and developed naturally. Whenever he spoke, we felt hypnotised and mesmerised by the way he discussed every subject, whether it was films, politics, cuisine, social issues, or anything else. Working with such a great personality and a profoundly knowledgeable man was truly an honour for all of us.”
Reflecting on the loss, he added, “We will miss him dearly. There won’t be another like him. The way he kept parallel cinema alive, the conviction with which he worked, is truly remarkable. I don’t think there will be another Shyam Benegal. It is a huge loss for all of us.”
A doyen of parallel cinema, Benegal leaves behind a rich legacy of socially relevant films, often told through a slice-of-life narrative. His best works include Ankur (1973), Nishant (1975), and Manthan (1976). He won the National Award for Best Hindi Feature Film for his Muslim women trilogy – Mammo (1994), Sardari Begum (1996), and Zubeidaa (2001). He would go on to receive special National Awards honours for his last works – Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2005) and Well Done Abba (2009). In 2005, the filmmaker was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his contribution to Indian cinema.
Shyam Benegal is survived by his wife, Shashi Benegal, and their two children.
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