Actor Anand Mishra's humble tribute to Shyam Benegal

Famous filmmaker Shyam Benegal died on the evening of 23 December 2024 in Mumbai at the age of 90. Shyam Benegal had created a different place for himself by making ad films, documentaries and feature films. It is not everyone's cup of tea to reach his heights. Shyam Benegal gave this country hundreds of talents through his films, including Naseeruddin Shah, Amrish Puri, Shabana Azmi, Salim Arif, Anand Mishra. Actor Anand Mishra, who has acted in the serial "Bharat Ek Khoj" and the film ‘Antarnaad’  directed by Shyam Benegal, paid his emotional tribute to him and expressed his feelings, which we are presenting here in his own words as it is...

Today I am addressing you to pay tribute to Shyam Benegal ji. It was a time when cinema had become very commercial. Every filmmaker was making love stories, horror and action films, which were also getting a lot of viewers. At that time, because of Shyam Benegal, I got the good fortune of watching films like Ankur, Nishant, Bhumika, Manthan. When I came to Mumbai, he was making the serial "Bharat Ek Khoj". My friend Ravi Kemmu sahab took me to meet him and in this serial, I got the opportunity to act with many big artists including Naseeruddin Shah and Anang Desai. After that I played the role of Swami Vivekanand's Guru. Then I acted in about twenty episodes. During that time I became close to Shyam Babu, I got a chance to see his love and respect for artists, he was very creative and dedicated towards his work and the most important thing is that he gave a platform to thousands of artists. He gave them an opportunity to work in cinema. Shyam Babu gave Bollywood many big artists like Amrish Puri sahab, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Annu Kapoor, Satish Kaushik and hundreds of other artists, about whom a lot can be said. Many people in this country who are not in Mumbai today, were also associated with him. He was very simple and the biggest thing about him was that there was no difference of opinion between any artist in his cinema. Every artist including Om Puri had a single table and they had breakfast, lunch and dinner together on the same table. I had the good fortune of working with him in a very systematic manner. Later, I also did the film 'Antarnad' under his direction. During the shooting of this film, an amazing event of my life happened. It was my birthday, so Shyam ji threw a birthday party for me along with many big artists including Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Pavan Malhotra, Virendra Saxena. Dandiya dance was also performed. I was very happy. I felt as if I too had some existence. Working in Shyam Babu's film, working with Shyam Benegal, it never felt like we were a character. In that entire environment, we became the characters. Shabana Azmi ji was also with us in this film. During the shooting of this film, we felt that it is amazing, we have not come to act, but to enjoy a picnic. And Shyam ji used to take us all to that location a day before and say, 'This is the place where we have to shoot tomorrow. Go and develop a bond with those things.’ Which is a big thing. For an artist, you get a bond with a location where you go to shoot and you develop a bond with that place a day before. Otherwise, when we artists go to the sets of commercial cinema, we don’t know what will happen there.

We had a very intimate bond with Shyamji. It is said that we had a bond like that of a father and son, a relationship of a younger brother and an elder brother. This is my personal opinion. We think that everyone will agree with this. All those artists who have ever worked with Shyam Babu, whether they have worked for a day or have spent a whole time in cinema, but they still cannot forget Shyam Babu. They just cannot forget him. I got the opportunity to work with Shyam Babu in the film ‘Sardar Patel’. I played the role of Raj Gopalachari in this film. This film was directed by Ketan Mehta, but its creative director was Shyam Benegal. While working with Shyam Babu, we never felt that we are working for a company, rather it felt like it is our home. It is our own project. We are working on it with full dedication and full commitment. I have spent a long time with Shyam Babu, but I never saw that any artist or other worker felt even a little inferior.

Shyam Benegal ji considered every artist of his as a member of his family. If you are on the set and your scene is not being shot, then even if you are free at that time, you can play carrom, badminton, football and even cricket. All the equipment was present on the set.

Shyam Babu saying goodbye to this world means it feels like a loss to our own family. Cinema has lost a person who made so many films, which others cannot do. It is amazing that he got so many awards, so much respect and everything. I think that anyone who has been his audience, artist, cameraman, spot boy, anyone, everyone feels that we have lost something big. This is an irreparable loss for the film industry.

When Shyam Babu was discussed in cinema seminars, there was a discussion about the viewpoint of his films. Some people used to say that he has always spoken against the evils of feudalism. Take his film 'Ankur'. It was a mission against feudalism. That is why some people believed that he was perhaps of communist ideology. But take the film 'Manthan'. How a movement is started on a problem like milk and by taking that movement, feudalism and casteism etc. are removed from the society and an ideology is talked about which talks about 'Sabka Saath'. Everyone together makes a direction. We make efforts. Then the film 'Sardar Patel' was also made. How was Sardar Patel a communist? Sardar Patel was a prominent person for this country. He never supported any one ideology or one power, but kept talking about the proletariat. If you talk about a film director in the debate about ideology in the society, then he should not be tied to any particular label. In that era, there was commercial cinema and another was parallel cinema, in which realistic problems were raised. They understood the political perspective very deeply in their films and put their views to the public through films. Sardar Patel has been a major character in history today, while Shyam Benegal made a 54-episode serial "Discovery of India" that talks about the civilization and culture of the country. In Bharat Ek Khoj, the culture of India and the history of India were presented to the society through Pandit Nehru's book "Discovery of India". It includes all those things - our perspective, our culture. The desire to keep our culture alive, modernization and culture. If we allow our culture to be attacked and we start walking on the path of imported culture, then believe me that if a country has to be destroyed, its culture should be attacked first. Science is absolutely necessary in imported culture. The things that are happening in the world in science should come to us too and our country should also develop. But it is also important to oppose the imported culture that is destroying our own culture through films.

Now you see that where there are costumes of a village, its characters, its problems, how can those problems be solved? If we think about this and tell this through the film, then what is wrong? Cinema is a medium of entertainment, but there is also an education in it. People are also influenced by it. So if Shyam Babu has made an attack in a film, then somewhere he has also spoken against the system. You cannot bind him in any box, any category. Cinema has a story and the director tells his point through the story. For example, take Shyam Babu's recent film 'Welcome to Sajjanpur'. This story is a myth that according to the Pandits, the groom was told that there is some defect in him, so marry him to a dog or a tree. Many people in the society get their would-be wife married to a tree first, and then marry that wife themselves. Many people marry dogs. After that he marries his would be wife. So there is a system in the society where government funds are given. A man in the village wants a well dug. For which he goes to the government office and gives his file saying that I want a well dug. For this he has to give bribe on the table and while giving bribe the principal amount which he is supposed to get for getting the well built, all goes in bribe. Then it is written in all his files that the well has been dug and everything is done. And anyway I see similar incidents in the city every day. It happened some time ago. A road was built in a colony. Which was also inaugurated. Photos were published. The next day a man from another government office came and expressed his opposition and got the road dug. So if Shyam Babu has put the flaws of our system in front of the society, then it is not right to call it any ideology. This is not an ideology but the reality of the society. It is a flaw. All over the city, roads are being dug up on some pretext or the other, so it has political benefits as well as economic benefits. When we make a film, we will have to see in the society that if we build a colony and the colony is built, people buy houses there and after that there is no drinking water there, people ask for tankers, drink water from tankers, they bring water from dirty wells in the fields and supply it, people fall ill, if someone talks about it, then it is not a flaw, it shows the flaws of the society. So when we discuss Shyam Babu, many times people with me said this, then I answered them that brother, it is not like that. Society is our country, it has its culture. It has its problems. Problem of water, problem of roads, problem of electricity. Caste discrimination etc. Doctor Ambedkar sahab also talked about these problems. Talking about them, Sardar Patel worked to unite the country. So, making an ideological film by balancing things somewhere is not communism. According to me, if a director is making you realize the problem by pointing his finger at it, then it means that the problem needs to be solved. I believe that cinema is a mirror of the society. We make the society aware through a story. Many commercial films are made. The hero comes, does many things and becomes a big man. As a viewer, we go into a fantasy, an imaginary world. And after watching the film, we come home happy and imagine that yesterday I was polishing boots, today I am traveling in a car in big restaurants, hotels and flights. This is an imaginary world. Cinema is a business of imagination. But sometimes there are directors who touch reality. For example, Shyam Babu's film "Sardar Patel", in which I also acted. A very important person, has a huge contribution to the independence of our country and the building of our country. So, it is natural for political opposition, political thinking to have a part of it in cinema. If a person comes out after watching a movie and feels that he got an opportunity to learn or understand something which is a problem of the society, then it is a big thing.

I had also gone to Shyam Babu's funeral. Big artists and writers were present there. Everyone's eyes were moist. Everyone was grieving the loss of Shyam Babu. Nasir bhai was there, Kulbhushan Kharbanda was there. Everyone was present there and everyone's eyes were filled with grief of separation. Shyam Babu was a milestone for Hindi cinema. It is very difficult to find a director like him who gives such an opportunity to new artists that they can prove their ability. Shyam Babu never selected any artist by giving him an audition. Shyam Babu would meet the artist, talk to him for five minutes. He would talk to him about him and then after understanding his ability, he would give him an opportunity to play a character in his film. He would never refuse. He believed that if a person can see, speak, hear, walk, move his hands and legs, then he can be made to work. He was a director with a discerning eye. I don't know how he could understand just by talking for five minutes whether this person will be able to play this character or not, whether he will be able to speak the dialogue or not...he had so much faith in the actors. Otherwise, just think how many big actors like Smita Patil, Amrish Puri, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi are his gift. I told you that thousands of actors are the gift of Shyam Babu. I want another Shyam Babu to come and give a chance to the coming generation. This is my tribute. My homage. I call him a sadhu, sanyasi, baba, an artist, a painter, a sculptor, a fakir, a simple scholar, a person who knows every drop of cinema, a whole ocean has left us. With this, I bow down to the soul of Shyam Babu. May he be happy wherever he is and may he be born in this world again and may he give a chance to the coming generation and new actors once again.

by Shantiswaroop Tripathi

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