Shyam Benegal, the legendary filmmaker, passed away at the age of 90 on December 23. In an emotional interview with ETimes, singer-actress Ila Arun shared her heartfelt feelings about the late director, whom she considered both a mentor and a father figure. Reflecting on their close bond, Ila expressed her regret at not being able to attend his 90th birthday celebration, revealing the deep impact he had on her life.
She said, “I feel very bad that I could not attend his birthday because that day I was invited to the Bengaluru Literature Festival, and I cursed myself because I had a feeling that it should not happen that I missed it. I had to present my book. When I was writing the book, I had gone to meet him. I spent one hour with him. I talked to him on his birthday. His voice is still echoing in my ears, and I am disturbed.”
Elaborating further, she added, “He was not only my Godfather but a very special person to me. He was my mentor in the true sense. Today, I feel like I am an orphan. I wanted to give him the book and talk to him. I dedicated my session at the festival to Shyam Babu because it was his 90th birthday that day. My plans of meeting him got canceled four times because of something or the other. I feel very bad now.”
“I wanted to present him with the book during that birthday celebration. In a way, I feel good that he saw Waheeda Rehman and Shabana Azmi, who were like family to him. He was like a father. I simply couldn’t back out from the festival. For me, one era has come to an end. It was a relationship of 30-40 years. Your family has its own space. But in the family that Shyam Babu made, the relationships were very different,” Ila concluded.
