In 1972, Benegal made his first film, Ankur, which highlighted the atrocities conducted by the feudal system, with unflinching detail and hard-hitting realism. It also marked the debut of Shabana Azmi's fine talents, which won her a prestigious National Award as Best Actress.
The vicious premise of exploitation was effectively chronicled in his following films like Nishaant (1975) and Manthan (1976), with generous elements of both irony and salvation. Clearly if Hindi cinema was entering a new phase, dubbed parallel cinema, Benegal was its top foremen.
The brooding beauty of his shots and narrative came into its own with Bhumika (1977), an intriguing biopic of Marathi actress Hansa Wadkar, arguably one of his best works. A compelling tale of an actress in search
of her true self battling agonising depths of dependency and heartbreaking manipulations, Bhumika reached out to a vast audience and won glowing reviews for both its maker and muse (a sensitive, superbly nuanced portrayal by Smita Patil).
Often credited for moulding the artist in Azmi, Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri with his well-rounded, compound, life-like creations, Benegal also did an astounding job of single-handedly demolishing Shashi
Kapoor's 'flirtatious' screen image. The filmmaker put Kapoor's finance to good use with the violent yet poetic period drama, Junoon (1978) and contemporary, board-room version of Mahabharata in Kalyug (1981).
The saga of surveying the changing possibilities and priorities of relationships continued with Trikal (1985), this time against the dimly-lit backdrop of an Anglo-Indian family in Portuguese occupied Goa. Though widely
appreciated in the festival circle, Trikaal came at a time when mindless action was gaining precedence over meaningful art.
In the picture: A still from Bhumika
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