look news india
Mumbai: Shyam Benegal, the flamboyant film director of the parallel cinema stream, was cremated with full state honors with a three-gun salute at the Shivaji Park crematorium in Dadar on Tuesday afternoon. His co-stars including Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Rajit Kapoor, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Ila Arun, Baman Irani, Divya Dutta, Kunal Kapoor, Anang Desai along with his wife Neera and daughter Pia to bid a final farewell to Shyam Benegal The entire family was present. Apart from Shreyas Talpade, many film personalities including contemporary director Gulzar, director Hansal Mehta, screenwriter-lyricist Javed Akhtar were present.
Paying tribute to Shyam Benegal, his contemporary filmmaker Gulzar said in his special style that he has not gone but we have followed his path. He revolutionized film production and left with a revolution of change. No one else can bring back the wave of revolution like him. We will remember them for a long time and talk about them for a long time to come.
Naseeruddin Shah, who has worked with Shyam Benegal in many films, said that whatever I am today, the entire credit goes to Shyam Benegal. Shreyas Talpade, who worked in the film Welcome to Sajjanpur, said that getting the opportunity to work with him was a big blessing for me. Everyone who worked with him or came in contact with him was inspired by him. The experience of working in the film Welcome to Sajjanpur has become the most memorable because of Benegal sir. After shooting this film, I changed as a person. We used to feel overwhelmed by communicating with them. His departure is a big loss.
Shabana Azmi’s husband and lyricist Javed Akhtar wrote songs for Shashyam Benegal’s two films Sardari Begum and Zubaida. Javed Akhtar while paying tribute to Shyam Benegal said that he was the father of Hindi parallel cinema. 50 years ago he made the film Ankur in 1974. In these fifty years he made alternative, unconventional and realistic films. He gave birth to the parallel cinema movement in India. Very few people know that only two filmmakers from India, Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal, have been able to make it to the list of 100 best directors of the world selected by the Film Club. Shabana respected him like her father.
Filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who won the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2005, also served as the director of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) from 1980 to 1986.