Legendary filmmaker Shyam Benegal passed away earlier this afternoon at the age of 90. A pioneer of parallel cinema, Benegal’s work in both mainstream and art films earned him widespread acclaim for its realism, depth, and storytelling excellence. His passing marks the end of an era in Indian filmmaking.
Remembering him, Nandita Das, late Om Puri’s wife said, ” I am absolutely devastated. Shyam Benegal was a mentor to Om Puri, and family to us. We used to call him our family encyclopedia. Anything we wanted, in terms of food, places to see etc, we would just call him and he would help us. He was well known for his love for single malt, and food. Of course, he was very close to my son Ishaan, and had seen him shortly after his birth, when he was just a few months old.”
She added, “We had met him a few days before his birthday, and he sent a very moving message to Ishaan, saying that he is so touched that Ishaan remembered his 90th birthday.” Hearbroken, Nandita added that she has lost a father and mentor.
On the other hand, actor Amit Behl told us, “Shyam Benegal is gone. It’s a big loss to the entire creative world, the world of cinema, the world of writing, the world of sensibility, and the world of history. I worked with him on two projects but I have been following his work since Manthan to date. I did Sanvidhan and Jung E Azaadi with him. Jung E Azaadi is playing every day at the war memorial in Punjab. He was a brilliant human being. Very down to earth and punctual. He would make sure that the cast and crew would eat breakfast together. He was a loving man and had a great sense of humour. I don’t think there was anyone in this country who understood art and culture would not want to work with him. It’s very sad and my heart goes out to Piya who I know personally and who is a great costume designer. After Zakir Husain, we have lost another gem.”
