Maestro: A Tribute to Shyam Benegal at 90
By Atul Tiwari
Kautilya Books
ISBN: 978-93-6063-062-1
233pp.

In 1957, a young man visited Calcutta to take part in a swimming competition and watched Satyajit Ray’s Pathar Panchali — it sealed his fate, as the film cast a spell on him. He had a moment of epiphany as he realised what he really wanted to do after getting a degree in economics from Nizam College in Hyderabad.

The young man was Shyam Benegal and this anecdote is related by scriptwriter and actor Atul Tiwari in his book Maestro: A Tribute to Shyam Benegal at 90.

In the interview that’s a part of the book, Benegal says Ray’s film had hit him like a bolt of lightning. “This is what struck me, and because of that film, I could find my ambition taking real shape, this was what I wanted to do in life. Not to imitate Ray, but to make my own films that answered my questions and tastes.”

After starting his career as an advertising film director, he made 200 documentaries of various lengths, alongside 800 to 900 ad films. But he became best known for dozens of iconic feature films that every film buff now knows in the world of cinema.

Not everybody in the field of art is lucky enough to have received recognition and had tributes paid to them in their life and Shyam Benegal, who passed away at the age of 90 last December, is among the lucky ones. Just 10 days before his death on December 24, Benegal, one of the pillars of Indian ‘parallel cinema’ — a term he himself did not like much — got the last tribute from his mentee, Atul Tiwari, in the form of this book. It was launched on the filmmaker’s birthday on December 14 and he enjoyed its celebration among his friends and family. Tiwari should consider himself very fortunate that he could present this special gift to his mentor in his life.

The book, which the author himself considers neither a scholarly work nor a conventional biography, is divided into seven sections, covering aspects of the life of Benegal, the person as well as the filmmaker, mostly based on........

© Dawn (Magazines)