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'I find his sense of history astounding, not just history of film, but of life in general.'
Another fascinating excerpt from Sangeeta Datta's book Shyam Benegal.
Shabana Azmi on Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal is my reluctant guru. He has not allowed me to be worshipful but he is my mentor and adviser. He wears his wisdom very lightly and has always challenged me to be his equal. That doesn't come easily to people. As a film-maker, he is deeply connected to life. An avid reader, loves music, theatre, painting -- he is somebody that I would like to be.
There are two aspects to my personality -- my international side and my traditional Muslim side (my culture) -- I could have tilted either way.
It was because of Shyam, Jennifer and Shashi Kapoor that I developed my international side -- their world views and ideas... The way I look at a city was shaped by Shyam.
When I went to Cannes with Shyam, he would ask about the history of the place, about its architecture, its people.
At 21, I was more interested in shopping and such. He would discuss and plan all the films that I should watch at the festival. In Paris, he would take me to the most authentic food joints.
It became a pattern to accompany him on location hunts. I would go with him; he would talk about the character with rich details and back stories. I would absorb everything because during the shoot he would not have the time to say all this again.
On location in the villages, Shyam would build toilets, build badminton courts, arrange for carrom sets, so the unit could be fit and relaxed.
Shyam has the director's eye.
He had this brilliant team of actors who would learn their lines quickly. We would rehearse, find our spaces, then Shyam would place his camera -- never a frame which looked wrong.
After the day's shoot, Shyam would be the big father figure to his unit -- discussing their love life, personal problems etc.
Much later his total involvement with 'cause' films has been a problem. Now the scripts are not as dramatic, production has been made easier, thus preventing great films from being made. With the script for Hari Bhari, I had felt there was some stereotyping of the Muslim community (they are poor, have too many children, etc). As UN goodwill ambassador for population, I also thought that was politically incorrect.
Shyam is very open to suggestions and will never make ego an issue at all.
I had suggested some changes in the script about my character Ghazala, which were taken very easily. Ghazala stitches clothes to earn some money at her mother's home; she then encourages her daughter to study.
Om Puri on Shyam Benegal
Shyam has been productive for three decades and has introduced new talent in actors, scriptwriters, editors, art directors. What is most outstanding is Benegal's sense of history, of film and history in general.
Benegal's films in Hindi are an immense contribution to national cinema, unlike Satyajit Ray, whose films were known in Bengal and abroad, but not in other regions of India.
Shyam is not just a feature film-maker, he is an activist with films on various subjects, always trying to tell a story, using narrative devices to underscore an issue. His early script collaborators did a fine job in balancing the drama and issues in each film.
There was great sense of camaraderie in Shyam's units.
During the shoot for Mandi, we would all play volleyball outside the sets till each one was called in for his or her shot.
For Susman, I spent two weeks with the weavers of Pochampally to learn weaving for my part. I actually wove 40 metres of cloth which I gave to Shyam, Nira, Shabana and Govind.
I find his sense of history astounding, not just history of film, but of life in general. Like Neena Gupta said, Shyam has the answer to every 'why' under the sun -- even the history of the safety pin. I treat him like a walking encyclopaedia on various subjects. After Ebrahim Alkazi, my teacher in the National School of Drama, Shyam is the strongest influence in shaping my personality.
Shyam shies away from passion or emotion (unlike Govind Nihalani).
In this manner, he is like Ray. Perhaps his intellect does not allow the display of raw emotions -- we see an effort to distance from overdramatised scenes, quick cuts from emotional scenes. However, this is not wholly true of Ankur or Bhumika.
The problem with distribution of Shyam's films can be attributed to the fact that Benegal has not followed up marketing like other commercial directors. The production budgets had no investment in public relations. Also the present scriptwriters are of no comparable standard to his earlier collaborators.
An extremely disciplined man, he is in his office at 10 every morning. He works in the office half a day even when he is not into production.
Excerpted from Shyam Benegal by Sangeeta Datta, with the kind permission of the publishers ROLI.
