Correa, Benegal… ‘Pioneers of Modern India’

The ‘Pioneers of Modern India’ series by Niyogi Books has been bringing to readers monographs of legendary Indians. While in the past it has published books on personalities such as Charu Majumdar, Homi J Bhabha, Jamini Roy, RK Laxman and Verghese Kurien, its new offering includes biographies of architect Charles Correa and filmmaker Shyam Benegal.

The book on Correa explores the myriad Indian and international influences that shaped his life, his success as an architect and the disappointments he faced in his lifelong advocacy for an egalitarian and uniquely Indian urbanism. Correa’s designs are exemplars of a distinctly Indian modernism, which used contemporary international technologies to create buildings uniquely adapted to India’s climate and customs. This monograph is an important contribution to scholarship on post-Independence architecture in India, given that it provides a wealth of contextual detail about the factors shaping Correa’s aesthetic and structural decisions, which remain unique exemplars of Indian modernism even today.

The other book explores Shyam Benegal’s evolution as a filmmaker, his choice and treatment of subjects, and how his use of cinematic techniques, as well as philosophical views, have changed and developed over the years. The pioneer of alternative cinema as a serious art form, Benegal held up a mirror to the inequalities and injustices in Indian society. His work is also responsible for introducing to the world some of the finest actors India has produced. The book includes a chapter that discusses Benegal’s work in television.