Shyam Benegal from his earliest film Ankur that was based on a true story that happened in Telangana region, chose stories of the region, and kept coming back to Hyderabad, the city where he grew up and so did his love for cinema
Here are excerpts from an old interview with the master filmmaker where he speaks about his cinematic journey and his love for Hyderabad
His oeuvre covers the gamut from feature films, documentaries to path-breaking work on television like Bharat Ek Khoj (based on Nehru’s Discovery of India) and Yatra. He has painted celluloid with biopics/ biographies, and raised socio-political issues of the country. Shyam Benegal has been steeped in cinema for five decades. This Dada Saheb Phalke awardee, who hails from Hyderabad, was also an MP of Rajya Sabha.
From his earliest film Ankur that was based on a true story that happened in Telangana region, there have been many instances when Shyam Benegal chose stories of the region, or atleast shot in Hyderabad and the nearby villages in addition to Ramoji Film City when it was built, which kept bringing him back to Hyderabad. And, each time he expressed his distress on the vanishing landmarks and rocks of the city.
The young boy from Alwal who studied in Nizam College, and did his Masters in Economics from Osmania University where he started a Film Society went to Mumbai to try his luck in the film industry. It was through struggle and mettle that he eventually became an icon of parallel cinema, made films, documentaries, television series and biographies – each one of them a text book for the art of film making. He kept coming back to Hyderabad on many occasions to make a film, met his admirers and friends. He also received the Yudhvir Award and ANR Award in the city.
On the metamorphosis of Hyderabad he “feels the city has been mindless and uncaring for its history and obliterated most of its landmarks of history. It’s a huge tragedy. Thankfully, the Charminar was allowed to remain! When you have new developments you should preserve the old city. The 70s, 80s and part of the 90s were the worst time. It’s not the Hyderabad I knew. I don’t see Sultan Bazaar or Abids I knew. The new parts though are wonderful.”
Coming back to his films – the much acclaimed Mandi that has a stellar star cast of women actors including Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi and Neena Gupta received several awards. The back drop for the movie is a brothel in the city of Hyderabad.
Benegal’s film Welcome to Sajjanpur (a satire shot in Hyderabad’s Ramoji Film City) was a hit. It was based on Narsaiyyan Ki Bavdi by Hyderabadi writer Jeelani Bano.
He shot his film Well Done Abba here again at the Ramoji Film City. “It is because of a high comfort level at the RFC which is a one-stop shop. One can put up vast sets on the land. One can live there and there is no wastage of time. It’s stress-free shoot and that helps in quality.” About the film he shared: “It is set in this part of the country and is in Dakhni. It’s a political satire on our development programmes – social legislation. Boman Irani plays the central character and Minissha Lamba his daughter.” Samir Dattani and a few regular actors are also part of it.
Film maker Narsing Rao reveals in his interview with Serish Nenisetti in The Hindu about the Movie Nishant that spotlights Telangana Armed Struggle and how feudalism impacted the citizens and women in Telangana villages. “It was shot in Gundlapochampally village. Mandi was shot in Bhongir village. The first movie Ankur was shot in Kapra municipality. For Susman, Shyam Benegal chose Pochampally village.”
While many know about his Bharat Ek Khoj – Benegal has worked on yet another tele-series for Doordarshan – Amravati Ki Kathayein is an Indian anthology TV series, based on the Telugu short story collection “Amaravati Kathalu” by Satyam Sankaramanchi. The stories happen on the banks of river Krishna and he cast several local artists in addition to Hindi actors for the series that was shot in Amaravati.
On working for television he said, “I am much too old for television. Why should I worry doing things which are transient. Television is like daily newspaper. Doing Bharat Ek Khoj two decades ago was different. That was an opportunity closest to my heart.”
For his cinema, Benegal was crowned with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award. “This is the nation’s highest award for cinema. I have got many awards. Anyway I don’t make films to win awards.” He said.
For Benegal traversing the cinematic journey “has been largely painless and painful. Over the years I have left out the pain and enjoyed the painless. Each day is a new challenge. Each day is a new day. Don’t lose your sense of wonder your sense of serendipity.”
(The article is based on excerpts from his earlier interview)
