Shyam Benegal selected for V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award

A respected and leading filmmaker, Benegal, 73, is known for making thought-provoking films centering around contemporary Indian experiences and pioneering the New Cinema in the country.

During his career, he has made 28 feature films including classics like Ankur, Nishant, Mandi, Bhumika, Manthan and Junoon and 41 documentaries on a wide gamut of topics including cultural, anthropology, sustainable growth, biopic, arts and culture.

One of his documentaries Satyajit Ray (1982) got him the National Award for the Best Biographical Film, while his 1985 film, Nehru won the award for Best Historical Reconstruction.

He also contributed



to the small screen with several popular serials including the 53-epidose Bharat Ek Khoj first broadcast on Doordarshan in 1988, and later the acclaimed Samvidhaan - The Making of The Constitution of India.

Born in Hyderabad in 1934, Benegal completed his Masters in Economics from Osmania University and in 1959, started working in an advertising agency in Mumbai before venturing into film-making.

His first documentary was in Gujarati in 1963, entitled Gher Behti Ganga (Ganga at Doorstep) and he credited his father, photographer Sridhar S Benegal and his cousin, the legendary actor Guru Dutt, as the early influencers who guided him into taking to film-making as a career.

 

Benegal with Amrish Puri, Anant Nag, Mohan Agashe, Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Smita Patil on the sets of Nishant from 1975.

He also taught Mass Communications at the Film & Television Institute of India (FITT), Pune between 1966 and 1973, and later was appointed two times as its Chairman, first in 1980-1983 and again in 1989-1992.