He stood out from the herd

Proud to have gone against the tide, renowned Indian film director, Shyam Benegal
discusses his reel life with Smriti Daniel

Perhaps it is because of that twinkle in his eye, that one finds it easy to imagine Shyam Benegal as a 12-year-old, directing his first movie. It seems that he has always been one of those lucky few, part of the rare breed that knows exactly what they want in their lives and are prepared to work until they get it. Now sixty years on, this multi-award winning Indian director is a major force in a rapidly expanding industry. His 25 feature films have made him not only a commercial success, but have also won him a place amongst the greatest film makers in New Indian Cinema.

Mr. Benegal was born away from the heady glamour of Bombay in the city of Hyderabad. "My father was a professional photographer and he used to have a 15 mm movie camera," says Mr. Benegal, adding that his father loved to make home movies starring his own children. "We were 10 children altogether and so there was plenty of material," he says. It was natural therefore, that a young Shyam would also try his hand at being a director.

His first movie whose Hindi title can be translated as 'Fun during the Holidays,' was a real thriller involving a complicated plot where a cousin went missing and the rest set out to look for him. "It had lots of tricks," he reveals smiling. "For instance the hand cranked camera could be run in reverse, which meant that plenty of things - including a train - would go the wrong way."

After graduating with a degree in economics, Mr. Benegal finally made his way down to Bombay; he like others went there with dreams in his eyes and only a few rupees in his pocket. "I knew I couldn't go straight to Bombay and become a film director," he says, explaining that funding for the kind of movie he wanted to make was near impossible to get. Hoping to make a living in advertising, he began as a copy writer in a large advertising agency. Sheer determination and talent, had him rising in the ranks. In his time in advertising, Mr. Benegal would make over 900 advertisements, shorts and documentaries. "For me learning was by doing," he says, “so I learnt to make films by making advertising films.”

However, he would not make his first feature film Ankur (1974) until he was 40. Ankur or The Seedling was part of a quartet, which featured the successful films Nishanth (1974), Manthan (1975) and Bhumika (1976). The four movies served as narratives of India's socio-economic scene and explored themes such as gender bias, domestic violence and feudal attitudes. His later films like Kalyug (1981) further augmented his reputation as a director of rare quality. So much so, that the International Film Guide ranked him as one of the five best directors in the world in 1979, the year he released his classic film Junoon.

A still from Kalyug

His films have launched some of India's most famous stars, including Naseerudin Shah, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, Nina Gupta, Smita Patel, Ila Arun and Amrish Puri amongst many others. "All I did was give them an opportunity," he says, "how can I take credit for their talent?" Though he has worked with many, many big names in the industry, he continues to give newcomers a shot at stardom.

As a director, Mr. Benegal feels his biggest strength lies in his ability to "create the right psychological atmosphere for a performance to emerge," as well as "in setting the pitch at which that scene must be played."

Directing aside, Mr. Benegal's movies have always stood out from the herd, by virtue of his themes, the subtleties of dialects in the scripts, the performance of his actors and even the way he employed music in his films. "You have greater numbers of failures than successes, when you choose a route like this," he says ruefully. His understanding and sensitive portrayal of the struggling minorities in the world's biggest democracy have won him much recognition, notably as the recipient of the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration.

Mr Benegal is well known as one of the first and greatest proponents of 'middle cinema’. Straddling the fine line between art films and mainstream cinema, middle cinema represents the thoughful side of Bollywood. "Cinema has a huge social impact," he says.

Films aside, he has come into additional responsibility more recently and has for several months now been a nominated member of the upper house of the Indian Parliament also known as the Rajya Sabha. He says that he is just learning the ropes, but that his "six- year stint" will give him a chance to get involved with the running of the country.

Looking back, he says chuckling, "It was always swimming against the tide for me, at no point was I swimming with the tide." Hard though his chosen route may have been, he says he has no regrets. "As you grow older you don't look at the world as though it can be changed in a single day…"

Mr. Benegal was in Sri Lanka for a few days courtesy the India-Sri Lanka Foundation, during which time he delivered a public lecture, and conducted a workshop for young Sri Lankan film makers.