The first generation of Indian Parallel cinema and famous filmmaker Shyam Benegal passed away on December 23, 2024, at the age of 90. Mumbai gets over the filmmaker only on Tuesday, and cremating him is done with state honour at SV, Shivaji Park Electric Crematorium. Concerning the personality’s passing, many of the famous stars, such as Shabana Azmi, Gulzaar, Divya Dutta, Naseeruddin Shah, and the rest, provided him with a teary send-off.
On December 24, the nation lost a respected film director, Shyam Benegal, who was buried with full state honours. His contribution to the Indian Cinema will turn out to be useful when in future times, we wish to reminisce. In one of the videos, the Indian National flag was put over the dead body of the late director, and a band played trumpets for him. In another video, functional companions and actors on stage, Naseeruddin Shah, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Rajit Kapoor, Boman Irani, etc, look equally emotional while performing the funeral rites. The videos have been going viral around the internet consistently on rounds. It was the daughter of the filmmaker who mailed India Today on Monday to say that the filmmaker was no more.
He was reportedly suffering from a chronic kidney-related ailment and took his last breath at 6:30 PM. He was taken to Wockhardt Hospital, Mumbai, where he received treatment. Shortly after the sad news went viral, many Indian film celebrities such as Amitabh Bachchan, Karisma Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Sham Kaushal, Shabana Azmi, and many others expressed their grief through their social media platforms. Actress Shabana Azmi, who debuted in Benegal’s directorial Ankur, also condoled his death. When talking to PTI, she said, “Shyam Benegal has been my guru in everything, not only in acting but in how I see the world.”
She recalled going abroad for their film, Ankur at the Berlin Film Festival. She remembered from a young age that she used to dream of running to the first shopping place with stars while dreaming. She disclosed that Benegal, for his part, was more concerned with historical and cultural sightseeing than with shopping. She painted him as a progressive, informed man in the filmmaking business who taught her different things. Shyam Benegal gave remarkable content-driven films like Ankur, Mandi, Zubeidaa, and others.
