IndiaStar: The Parallel Cinema of Shyam Benegal

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The Parallel Cinema of Shyam Benegal

by Sunil Khushalani

[Editor's intro: Sunil D. Khushalani is a final-year resident
in psychiatry at New York University. He received his
medical degree in Bombay.]

In Bombay over the years, one of the most satisfying outcome of my
watching films was to become aware, at a socio-political level,
of the lives of people in different walks of life. One of the few filmmakers
who dealt consistently with off-beat themes was Shyam Benegal.

Starting with Manthan , which was quite a moving experience
of the Milk co-operative and Antarnaad which probed into the lives of
Swadhyayis, Shyam Benegal's movies were always complex and engaging
docudramas. I went on to see as many movies of this filmmaker as I could:
Ankur, Nishant, Junoon, Mandi, Kalyug, Junoon, Trikal,
Susman, Suraj ka Saatvan Ghoda, and Mammo. I also followed the T.V
serials he had directed, Bhaarat ek Khoj, Yatra and some episodes of
Katha Sagar. I found his documentary interview of Satyajit Ray quite illuminating.

In many ways he introduced me to aspects of realism in an engaging way,
which then allowed me to appreciate other filmmakers like Satyajit
Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, who also dealt with realism but demanded much more
from their viewers. I remember Benegal saying in an interview that he tries
to capture the process of change in a given environment. This is evident
in his Manthan.

I grew up with Hindi mainstream cinema, with all its
characteristics--songs, dances, linear narrative, a clear beginning, middle
and end, its heroes, heroines, vamps and villains, and melodrama. Benegal was
partly instrumental in challenging that mindset of mine. He introduced strong
well-defined characters, who spoke in accents consistent with their
geographical location (which was quite consciously well-defined) and who wore
costumes which were not glamorous but suited the role. He used many of the
same actors in his different films (Naseerudin Shah, Shabana Azmi,
Kubhushan Kharbanda, and others) which gave me an idea of the versatility and range of these actors and actresses, playing characters that were not black or
white but had shades of grey. Many of his films left me with
more questions than answers.

Clearly, he wanted his audiences to think, to be conscious
of their surroundings and to take an active role in the changes that took
place around them like the protagonists in his films.
Vanraj Bhatia, who composed the musical score for many of his
films successfully complemented by giving a regional
flavour.

My personal favorite is Antarnaad which takes up a complex
subject, hovers in the spiritual realm and convincingly and gradually shows
us the process of transformation in two villages of India: one of fisherfolk
and the other of dacoits. One can see the domino effect that takes place as
a group of self-questioning Swadhyayis go on their Bhakti-pheris trying the
uphill task of making others aware of their own self-worth.

I was also impressed by the trajectory of the narrative in Suraj
ka Saatvan Ghoda which is successively narrated through different
perspectives.

Kalyug was yet another modern day epic borrowing themes from the
Mahabharata. There haven't been many movies that can claim to handle
so many characters so effectively, in a terse and well-written
plot.

I also have a grievance. Although he put in lot of effort in making his films,
he did not make enough effort in making them
them easily accessible. Many people who wanted to see his films, simply could
not find them -- however, this could be partly the fault of NFDC.
Films like Charandas Chor, Aarohan are still elusive. Despite
obsessive searching, I have still to find them in the video market. Nor has
anyone taken pains to market the exclusive music that appears in his films
like Antarnaad, Susman (which has the celebrated artiste Pandit Jasraj
singing Kabir dohas).

Every time I hear the lilting song "Mero gaam katha parey jaa" by
Priti Sagar, I am thankful to the prolific Shyam Benegal for raising my
consciousness not only about Indians and Indian cinema, but also about the
world around me.

I am ardently waiting to see his latest film, The Making of the
Mahatma.