Shyam Benegal was ‘dismayed by the lack of imagination’ in contemporary films, struggled to find funding for projects

Watch the interview here:

On making films that give a peek into history:

When it came to exploring a nation’s history, Benegal believed that understanding the place of historical figures in the larger narrative was crucial. He said, “I never thought of it that way. For me, the important thing was what was their place in history. If I made biographical films, it is essentially to see their place in history, not my place. My place is hardly consequential. The important thing is their place, that’s why I made these films. Like when I made Gandhi, he reshaped the history of this country, Jinha, he reshaped the history of the subcontinent, Mujibur Rahman, he did the same for Bangladesh.

On staying away from glamour

Benegal had also reflected on how filmmaking became a glamorous profession over the years. He had shared, “When I was a child it was far more glamorous. What I am trying to say is that now it (cinema) has become a part of everybody’s life. Earlier, when cinema started, and it started to technologically develop, and each development made another breakthrough in the audio-visual medium. But today you don’t think much of that. You see, in the beginning, whatever technological things that were happening were the most important ones. Like 3D, wide screen, name it, there were so many different kinds of things. Today you think of simply another audio-visual language and you are using it as much as you possibly can.”

Shabana Azmi in a still from Shyam Benegal’s Ankur (1974).

What excited him while watching films today

Benegal continued to watch films till the very last. However, he had admitted that watching movies was no more an exciting activity for him. His explanation: “Well, I do (watch films). But what happens is, after a while you see films because you know that there is something there. Or if you know the work of somebody or any part of the film, maybe for the exceptional camera work because the cameraman, you know their work. Or if someone is shooting on monochrome. For a filmmaker, some of these things are very interesting, apart from the content of course. While the content is primary, when you go to see a film, you want to see everything, not just follow the story. I enjoy seeing the manner in which it is shot, conceived and directed; and the manner in which it is narrated — visually narrated, sound wise narrated, and so on. So you want to enjoy the film in the terms of how a film should be enjoyed.”

Challenges he faced in 50+ years of filmmaking

Shyam Benegal had recently said that he continued to face challenges in getting funding to make movies because he didn’t take subjects that 90% of the films have today. On this, he had said, “Challenges will always be there. At that time there were challenges of shortages. We could never get the kind of stock (of film to shoot on) we wanted. We had to make do with any number of different kind of stock. Some of those challenges were met, some were not. When I now think of Bhumika, for instance, even with those shortages, if we did have better laboratories, we perhaps could have done better.”

“Those problems, if they had arrived today, could be solved very easily. But you know, human ingenuity is something that I respect greatly. Human mind is such. An assistant of mine or a camera person could come up with a solution for which I would be tearing my hair apart, but that’s the exciting part that you are short of something and you have to make do with what you have. That kind of problem solving is something that I find very exciting while making a film,” he had added.

With over 50 years of experience in the film industry, Benegal had developed a philosophical approach to his work. He said, “That will never end because you see, filmmaking is that kind of thing where everything depends on whether anybody considers you having any kind of market value. If there is no market value then you have to create a market value for yourself. I have now been working for more than 50 years in this. You now think of it as that’s how it is. You chose this. You made your bed so you better lie in it… It’s like that (laughs),” he had said. Despite the challenges, Benegal remained optimistic and enthusiastic about the possibilities of cinema.