Legendary Filmmaker Shyam Benegal Passes Away At The Age Of 90

Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal passed away on Monday after days of suffering from a chronic kidney-related disease. The legendary 90-year-old filmmaker died at around 6:30 pm at the Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai, reported.

His funeral will take place on Tuesday at around 10:00 am in Mumbai.

Filmmaker Shyam Benegal’s Achievements

Shyam Benegal was prominently considered one of the greatest filmmakers after the 1970s. He also received several honours, which included 18 National Film Awards, a Nandi Award, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India’s highest award in the field of cinema, a Padma Shri, and Padma Bhushan. His successful films were Manthan, Zubeidaa, and Sardaari Begum.

Recently, Shyam Benegal celebrated his 90th birthday in Mumbai. Benegal was born on December 14, 1934, in Hyderabad, and hailed from a Konkani-speaking Chitrapur Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin family. His father, Sridhar B. Benegal, originally from Karnataka, was a photographer who inspired Shyam’s early interest in filmmaking.

At just 12 years old, Shyam created his first film using a camera gifted by his father. He went on to earn a Master’s degree in Economics from Osmania University, Hyderabad, where he also founded the Hyderabad Film Society, marking the beginning of his illustrious journey in cinema.

The legendary filmmaker was known for his evolution in Hindi cinema during the period of stillness in the 1980s. Many filmmakers of the parallel film movement couldn’t make movies in the absence of funds. However, Shyam turned to the new medium of television. His one of the iconic shows of India was ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’.

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