Shyam Benegal is a changed man, he says. From the heady days of Ankur, followed by the equally remarkable Manthan and Nishant the following years, right up to his recent films, his has has been a journey exploring the heart of India. Eight of his films were shown at a retrospective at the Kolkata Film Festival recently.
But the veteran director has new interests. He rose to fame by making films against feudalism shattering the marginalised, agrarian people in India. But today he does not want to tread that path cinematically. ?I don?t think I would. Because it was a different time when I had made those films. Now things have changed so much. And I think it is much more important to study the urban psyche in films than re-visiting my past.?
According to Benegal, modern life and its various complexities seem more challenging to him. ?Living in the city and knowing your reality, steeped in uneven conflicts, corruption, greed, crime, slum-life and murky trickery, seems to me a major subject now,? he says. ?Probing complicated urban, social and political degradation comes to me as a greater challenge. In fact, I feel the life I know from close quarter should find expression in my films, never appeasing but appalling?.
Benegal has made 69 films, including documentaries/ shorts and 900 ad films. He, however, refuses to live by any label or tag. ?My films are based on human sensibilities and I don?t like labeling,? he says. ?I do never disown the movement of parallel cinema found so active in the late sixties and seventies. Yes, I have learnt a lot from this movement then but I don?t think I could any more stick to a particular assumption. As a filmmaker, I have to explore vast untapped area of unknown reality in my films, be they rural or urban.?
Cinema must entertain. ?I totally subscribe to the idea that cinema?s primary purpose is to entertain,? he says. ?If they are unable to entertain, then people will simply not come to the cinema to see the film.? He downplays the ability of a film to change society. ?Never because of a single film; single films don?t change society. But cinema as a whole does. There is good deal of impact. Since it is the most powerful medium, it could leave a charging impact on our life, social situation and the state?.
Benegal is currently involved with his next film, Mahadev, starring Shreyas Talpade and Amrita Rao. This will be followed by arguably his most ambitious film, Noor, based on the life of Noor Inayat Khan. ?It?s an outstanding story,? says Benegal. Much like his cinematic career.