Shyam Benegal to get Dadasaheb Phalke Award
(No Ratings Yet)Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who created masterpieces like “Nishant”, “Manthan”, “Zubeida” and “Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose”, will be honoured with the Indian film industry’s highest honour - the Dadasaheb Phalke Award - for his outstanding contribution in the field of cinema.
The award for the year 2005, that comprises of a cash prize of Rs.200,000, a Swarna Kamal (golden lotus) trophy and shawl, will be conferred on Benegal by President Pratibha Patil at a ceremony later this year.
A nephew of Guru Dutt, Benegal is considered one of the leading filmmakers of the country. He started his career with the Shabana Azmi and Anant Nag starrer “Ankur”. Based on a real incident in Hyderabad, the film focused on the feud between the ruling class and peasants in rural India and managed to break away from the cinematic trends of the 70s.
After that Benegal churned out quite a few thought-provoking films, which have not only been seen and appreciated in India but also at international film festivals.
Most of his films have been varied in nature, but mainly centred on the problems of development and socio-cultural change. He has handled his female characters with sensitivity in his masterpieces “Bhumika”, “Mandi”, “Sardari Begum”, “Mammo” and “Zubeida”.
Apart from feature films, Benegal, the founder of the Hyderabad Film Society and a former ad filmmaker, has made a number of documentaries on various subjects ranging from cultural anthropology and the problems of industrialisation to music. Some of them are - “Child of The Streets”, “Satyajit Ray” and “Nature Symphony”.
His work for television consists of several popular series including a 53-episode serial based on Jawaharlal Nehru’s book “Discovery of India”. He has also made an extra-mural educational series for rural children sponsored by the United Nations International Children’s Fund (Unicef).
Presently a member of the Rajya Sabha, Benegal taught mass-communication techniques between 1966 and 1973 and later took an active role in shaping film education as Chairman of the Film Television Institute of India in 1980-83 and 1989-92.
He was also part of the National Integration Council (1986-89) and the National Council of Art. The Government of India has conferred on him two of its most prestigious awards - the Padma Shri (1976) and the Padma Bhushan (1991).
— INAS
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