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01-Oct-02

246 pages

Published/distributed by BFI Publishing

ISBN/EAN: 9780851709079

Hardback

Price: £50.00

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Shyam Benegal

Datta, Sangeeta

'To see things not with the filter of what is given but to see things as they are that's what my films are about' Shyam Benegal.

Shyam Benegal is the best known and most prolific contemporary film-maker from India's arthouse or 'New Cinema' tradition. From Benegal's first film Ankur (1974) through to the recent hit Zubeidaa (2000) his films have explored the contradictions and tensions of a society in very rapid transition with an uniquely powerful focus on female protagonists.

Sangeeta Datta's book traces a career with its beginnings in political cinema and a realiist aesthetic. She demonstrates how the struggles of women and the dispossessed and marginalised in Indian society have found an eloquent expression in films as diverse as as Nishant, Bhumika, Mandi, Suraj ka Satwa Ghoda and Kalyug. The book also traces Benegal's work with collaborators including many of the biggest names in commercial cinema - Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, and more recently Karishma Kapoor, Govind Nihalini, and A.R. Rahman - developing a style and ethos uniquely his.
In this first major overview of the director's work the author explains how it presents both a stark contrast to Bollywood and yet also contains many creative continuities both with commercial cinema and his distinguished predecessor Satyajit Ray. She shows too how no other director has come close to painting such a compelling and vivid portrait of modern India.

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