Shyam Benegal: Filmmaker Who Made Socially Relevant Films With Utmost Sensitivity

In 2004, Shyam Benegal graciously agreed to be an examiner for a few days at Kenya's School of films which had umbilical cord with the family of the world-famous Kenyan TV journalist Mohd Amin who put the Ethiopian famine on the world stage with his reporting in spite of having lost his arm in a bomb explosion.

- SURENDRA KUMAR

The news of the passing away of the renowned film director/producer Shyam Benegal (1934-1924) who is considered by many as the father of the Parallel cinema in India has triggered off many fond memories of the time we spent together.

It was some time in 2001 when he came to the North-Western university USA for six weeks as the Visiting Professor of cinema. During his stay, we invited him to dinner at our official residence, a penthouse on the 19th floor at South Michigan avenue, Chicago quite a few times and tried to introduce him to a cross section of the friends of India.

He once quipped, "every time we come to your place, we meet new people." I told him disarmingly: "that's my job. Every time we invite a new set of people, in a small way, we expand the circle of the friends of India." He enjoyed his assignment which he termed as "paid holidays". He was given a service apt where he was put up with his wife and talked about Cinema at the university for around 3 hours only.

He told me that he had plenty of free time to write or renew scripts during his short stay in Chicago.

From Chicago, I was transferred to Nairobi in 2003 to serve as India's High Commissioner to Kenya.

In 2004, Shyam Benegal graciously agreed to be an examiner for a few days at Kenya's School of films which had umbilical cord with the family of the world-famous Kenyan TV Journalist Mohd Amin who put the Ethiopian famine on the world stage with his reporting in spite of having lost his arm in a bomb explosion.

Benegal took his responsibility as an Examiner seriously and gave grades very objectively.