Eminent filmmaker Shyam Benegal shared his film world experience with students at the Mass Communication Research Centre at the Jamia Millia Islamia. He regretted that Indian villages had been largely neglected by Hindi films for over ten years.

The lecture is organised every year by the Mass Communication Research Centre as a tribute to its founder, the late Anwar Jamal Kidwai. The occasion was appropriate too given that Jamia Millia Islamia is celebrating its 88th anniversary with the Annual Talimi Mela.


For the students of the Mass Communication Research Centre, it was a rare opportunity to hear the seasoned filmmaker speak about his ordeals and experiences in the film industry. Many students of the Centre are about to join the industry by the end of this academic year and Benegal is an inspiration for most of them. The veteran filmmaker, who has also made more than 50 documentaries including one on Satyajit Ray and the much-applauded television serial, Bharat Ek Khoj, spoke on how he began his journey in the film-making business.

The recipient of 17 national film awards and the coveted Dada Saheb Phalke Award, recalled his visit to Kolkata in the 1950’s when he was a student. “When I saw Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali, there was an explosion in my brain,” recalled the veteran filmmaker. “I saw it 12 times then and eventually ended up seeing it 26 times.”


The film made him realise that there was no need for him to follow any kind of convention that was being followed by the filmmakers in the country. “It had the smell of the earth and showed the relationships that all of us have,” said Benegal. This probably is one reason that Benegal’s films are replete with strong social messages.


He said that the juxtaposition of the feudal set-up with the colonial set-up in the environment he grew up in also found a reflection in his films. Ankur, Benegal’s first feature film, was based on a short story that he wrote when he was in college. “It was a part of the change, when I was growing up,” he added.


Talking about his latest box office hit Welcome to Sajjanpur, the director expressed his desire to revisit the Indian village that had been largely neglected by Hindi films for 10 to 12 years. “But, it had to be in a form that the urban people would watch it,” he said. “Therefore, I chose comedy as the medium to tell the story. It could then deal with the issues of low literacy and honour killings, in an engaging fashion.”