The Master: At 88, Shyam Benegal, director of recently released biopic on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is still going strong

As an Indo-Bangla biopic on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman hits theatres, director Shyam Benegal, the pioneer of parallel cinema, reflects on his five-decade-long journey. At 88, perfection remains his guiding force

Shyam Benegal

Nonika Singh

AT 88, his mind is razor sharp. Shyam Benegal, one of India’s greatest filmmakers, might profess that memory fails him, but there are no gaps in his stream of thought. If clarity of vision has defined his cinema in his five-decade-long career, crystal clear are his views, ideas and opinions. Basking in the glory of his latest film, ‘Mujib: The Making of a Nation’, a biopic on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which is running houseful in over 140 screens in Bangladesh, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award recipient is mighty pleased with the response. As he shares how even VIPs are finding it difficult to get a ticket, figures do not matter to the filmmaker, who has defied box-office diktats all his life. What is heartening for him is that the film is reaching out to people for whom it was made.

12010291CD _SELECTED BTS 1 COPY MUJIB SETS BENEGAL.jpg — Shyam Benegal (right) directs Arifin Shuvoo, who plays the role of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Running to packed houses in Bangladesh, ‘Mujib: The Making of a Nation’ is set for release in India on October 27. Photos: The Tribune/NFDC

An India-Bangladesh joint production, indeed when another country is involved in a project, one has to be doubly cautious and scrupulous. This is not the first time Benegal has dabbled in a joint production or been sought out by an international luminary. If he was handpicked by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for the biopic on her father, back in time Fatima Meer, South African writer and academician, had approached him for the biographical ‘The Making of The Mahatma’ (1996), chronicling Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s years in South Africa. “The challenge of making biopics,” asserts Benegal, “lies in not merely being true to facts but, more importantly, in not letting one’s prejudices colour the narrative. One has to function like a historian, unbiased and truthful.”

Precisely why his films on famous personalities are not hagiographies, says noted scriptwriter Atul Tiwari. “Rather, he goes out of the way to see stalwarts as human beings and factors in their foibles. Thus, he shows Subhas Chandra Bose as someone who has the courage and temper of a lion, but is afraid of cats.” Humanising Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, quintessentially a family man, was not that difficult. “Incidentally, in the film on Bangladesh’s founding father,” avers Tiwari, “the real hero is Mujibur Rahman’s wife, and it’s her voiceover that takes us through his life. That is the kind of value he places on women.”

If sexual oppression was the theme of Benegal’s films like ‘Nishant’ (1975), even today his heart beats for the fairer sex. Women characters are etched out with dignity, heartfelt understanding and compassion. His daughter Pia Benegal, a gifted costume designer, is not surprised. “After all, he comes from a family of six sisters, various progressive and liberal aunts. He could not have possibly escaped the influence of strong women in his life,” she reveals. His birthplace, Hyderabad, a city with its distinct character and culture, too, shaped his sensibilities. Dakhni dialect has been integral to many of his films, including his first feature film ‘Ankur’ (1974). He may have adapted many a literary text in films like ‘Junoon’ (1992) and ‘Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda’ (1992), but his first film ‘Ankur’ was based on a short story he wrote in his college days.

As the National Award-winning ‘Ankur’, rated as his seminal work, completes 50 years in 2024, the creator considers it a landmark. “Not only was it a huge success in cinema halls, it went on to win many awards,” recalls Benegal. Tiwari observes, “‘Ankur’ literally sprouted new seeds and broke the glass ceiling in Indian cinema. It brought a breath of fresh air with its bold and incisive social critique, and its agency against inequality and injustice.”

Benegal’s unequivocal concern for the underdog has always shone through. His name is also synonymous with what in cinematic parlance came to be known as parallel cinema. The master filmmaker calls this classification as just another historical phase. Often, his cinema is deemed political and the much-feted director has no hesitation in saying, “No one is apolitical. One can’t be removed from one’s politics, society and cultural ethos.” But with his work steeped in authentic realism, he does not think he was ahead of his times. “No one ever is. You make innovations and you could be the first one to have made a certain kind of innovation at that point,” he adds. Today, many put Benegal in the same league as the ultimate master, Satyajit Ray, on whom he has made a documentary and whose worldview he endorses fully. Ray has been an abiding influence, far more than his cousin, celebrated filmmaker Guru Dutt. Benegal might consider Ray his guru and facilitator, but he has ultimately forged his own path unfettered and free of any inspiration or interference.

Screenplay writer Shama Zaidi, with whom his association goes a long way, feels, “He found his voice with ‘Ankur’ and it has not wavered since then and remained largely even, echoing across genres and mediums.” Perhaps, it has become less angst-ridden over the years. But Zaidi insists, “He has never been angry. Rather, his critique of society has been affectionate, even indulgent. Thus, his villains are never painted in shades of black.”

If his onscreen characters are invariably humanised, warts and all, in real life, too, he accommodates human follies. His actors like Divya Dutta swear by how he is so calm and composed on the sets. His faith in their potential is immense. While none of the crew members saw ‘Mujib’ in the puffed-up body of Arifin Shuvoo, Benegal did. By his own admission, his sixth sense guides him and he knows instinctively. Recalling Benegal’s magnum opus TV series ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ (1988), which had an ensemble cast of 300 actors, Tiwari calls him the ‘gateway to Indian cinema’ by the sheer virtue of the number of actors he has introduced, including talented ones like Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Anant Nag, Mohan Agashe and Smita Patil, who initially said ‘no’ to his acting offer. It was only on her mother’s insistence that Smita agreed and went on to give stellar performances in his iconic movies like ‘Bhumika’ (1977) and ‘Mandi’ (1983).

Film after film has established Benegal’s eye for detail and period dramas have rarely looked more authentic as under his watchful direction. So keen is his power of observation that nothing misses his astute eye. Tiwari recalls a scene in ‘Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero’, which involved a herd of cows. “Just when we had canned the shot, it struck Shyam Babu that in 1941, there were no hybrid Jersey cows in India and immediately called for an indigenous breed to reshoot.”

Stories about his concern for others, including animals, have become fables. Legends about the legendary director’s compassion and egalitarianism abound. Equality is a concept he does not merely espouse in his films. No one, not even his daughter or for that matter stars, gets preferential treatment on his sets. Zaidi shares, “All eat the same food.” If there are no plush vanity vans lurking around his sets, the man goes about without any entourage of media manager or public relations professionals. Divya recalls her first meeting with him and how she was pleasantly surprised by how approachable ‘the Shyam Benegal’ was, despite having won every conceivable award and occupying positions of eminence.

He is not a tough taskmaster, only someone who draws out the best from his cast and crew. Arifin says, “Whatever others may say, if he thinks he has got what he wanted, he calls it a day and vice versa.” He may not crack the whip, yet knows exactly what he wants and would not settle for less. Zaidi remembers re-writing the Bose film 14 times. The ‘Mujib...’ draft, too, underwent many changes each time some new information cropped up.

Research has always been a cornerstone for Benegal. For ‘Mujib...’, he nearly had a library of works with him. “Even otherwise,” says Arifin, “he is a chalta-phirta Google who can hold a discussion on any subject under the sun.” But onscreen, what you see is not a sermon or knowledge-filled didactic. Arifin reasons, “Why the Bangla film is connecting with audiences in Bangladesh is not because it’s factually correct as most viewers already know the facts. It is touching an emotional chord.” Zaidi thinks it is Benegal’s long innings with advertising and corporate films that has taught him the language of precision. And with ‘his developed sense of humour’, it was inevitable that he would turn to comedies like ‘Welcome to Sajjanpur’ (2008) and biting satires like ‘Well Done Abba!’ (2009).

A director first and foremost, he is a proud, if not an indulgent, father. Says Pia, “How can he have time for pampering me? He is forever consumed with his passion for cinema, reading up.” Even today, his ardour for his muse shows no signs of abating. Yes, he knows with advancing years, time is finite and you can’t fritter it away on a zillion things, but conserve it for what you truly believe in. “What next”, however, is met with a repartee: “I don’t care to share till the idea is fully formed in my mind.” Indeed, to serve anything half-baked is not his wont. Rather, pursuit of perfection is a habit, as is the will “to carry on as long as I can”. He might have once professed, “Cinema can’t usher in a revolution,” yet, he can’t help but make it an empowering tool of great aesthetic beauty.

MAJOR MILESTONES

Shyam Benegal, founder of realistic and issue-based film movement, has been honoured with the Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan and numerous international awards

Ankur (1974)

Based on sexual dynamics between the oppressor and oppressed, it won three National Awards.