Legendary Filmmaker Shyam Benegal Passes Away After Prolonged Illness

Mumbai: Legendary filmmaker Shyam Benegal breathed his last at Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai on Monday. He was 90.

“It is true. Mr Shyam Benegal passed away this evening at 6.30 pm,” his daughter Pia Benegal confirmed to SCREEN.

A pioneer of parallel cinema, he had been undergoing treatment at the hospital for chronic kidney disease.

Taking to his X (formerly Twitter) handle, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur shared a picture of the filmmaker and wrote, “He created ‘the new wave’ cinema. #shyambenegal will always be remembered as the man that changed the direction of Indian Cinema with films like Ankur, Manthan and countless others. He created stars out great actors like Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil. Farewell my friend and guide.”

On December 15, Shabana Azmi had posted a picture, celebrating his 90th birthday.

Shyam Benegal was best known for helming films like Ankur (1973), Nishant (1975), Manthan (1976), Bhumika (1977), Mammo (1994), Sardari Begum (1996), and Zubeidaa (2001), among others. He was conferred with Padma Shri in 1976 and Padma Bhushan in 1991.

He adroitly used the medium to make definitive and sharp remarks about the many facets of society and human behaviour, which set his work apart from mainstream cinema.