SHYAM BENEGAL..NO MORE!

It's sad that, our renowned filmmaker Shyam Benegal ji passed away!

His film 'Ankur' (1973) was a pioneering film in Parallel Cinema Movement of our India! And this completed 50 years! In this, he made his early social films trilogy with 'Nishant' (1975) and 'Manthan' (1976).

Then Benegal created a new genre called 'Middle Cinema'. In this, his notable films were Shashi Kapoor's 'Kalyug' (1981), Shabana Azmi & Smita Patil acted 'Mandi' (1983), 'Suraj Ka Satavan Ghoda' (1992) and 'Sardari Begum' (1996).

Almost all of his films won national awards & international recognition too! In 1991 he got 'Padma Bhushan'. In 2007 he was honoured with 'Dadasaheb Phalke Award'!..That time I wrote special article on him in my 'Chitrasrushti' special issue!

(In this picture, I discussed with him about the status of Parallel Cinema in 'MAMI's Mumbai Film Festival 25 years ago!)

Homage to Shyambabu!!

- Manoj Kulkarni