The Benegal imprint on Indian cinema

Shyam Benegal was a representative voice of the parallel cinema movement that ushered in new aesthetics in the 1970s. His films — Ankur, Nishant, Manthan, Bhumika, Junoon, Kalyug among others — stood out for strong characters, especially the women, and a direct but bare storytelling style.

The 1970s were an interesting time for Indian cinema. A new generation of filmmakers, some of them products of the Film and Television Institute set up in 1960 and the nascent film society movement, were dreaming of making films without compromising on aesthetics for the compulsions of the box office. Aravindan, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, and John Abraham in Malayalam, Benegal, Mani Kaul, and Kumar Shahani in Hindi, BV Karanth, MS Sathyu and Girish Kasaravalli in Kannada, Nirad Mahapatra in Odia, and Aribam Syam Sharma in Manipuri were among them. In many ways, they were the inheritors of the art house cinema pioneered by Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, Bimal Roy and others in the previous decades. But Benegal stands apart from his peers because he also introduced new talent who set new standards. Actors such as Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, and Smita Patil discovered their niche through Benegal’s films.

Benegal’s cinema was shaped by Nehruvian modernity and its commitment to social and economic justice. The anger of his early films (Nishant) made way for a more reflective tone in his later works. His documentaries and docu-fiction are no less important. Bharat Ek Khoj, inspired by Jawaharlal Nehru’s The Discovery of India, is a monumental work that traces the civilisational history of India. These works reveal an aesthetic vision shaped by a commitment to liberal values and truthfulness. Benegal’s demise truly marks the end of an era.

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