‘The film industry should bow to the last Trojan’: Amol Palekar and Manoj Bajpayee pay tribute to Shyam Benegal

Shyam Benegal

"We always want our greats to live on forever," says Manoj Bajpayee, moments into our call with him. On Monday evening, that wish was shattered as Shyam Benegal, one of the finest filmmakers of Hindi cinema, passed away at 90.

For Bajpayee, Benegal, who cast him as the male lead in Zubeidaa (2001), represented someone who made him confident about his looks. "When nobody could understand why he cast me as a prince in Zubeidaa, he had his own idea. For him, I was a better-looking guy than all the real princes at that time. He gave me a lot of confidence when I didn't have confidence in my own looks. Every day, I would rush to be on the sets with him, to listen to him and be directed by him. It was a time that I will never be able to forget," recounts the actor.

Amol Palekar

Bajpayee echoes the sentiments of many in the film industry when he describes Benegal as "a pioneer, a pathbreaker, and a guiding light for so many filmmakers of this generation". "It was all started by that great man. It's a sad day for all of us, who define cinema not as a commercial medium, but as one of art. He never compromised with the art of cinema. He kept changing the grammar of cinema. I admire him because he was existing in the extreme times when mainstream cinema was ruling the roost, where Mr Amitabh Bachchan came like a tsunami. Here was a man quietly carving a niche for himself, carving a new path for all the new generations to come."

Amol Palekar fondly remembered the filmmaker with whom he collaborated on Bhumika (1977), which was fronted by the late Smita Patil. Saddened by the loss, Palekar said, "The film industry should bow to the last Trojan! I do."

The rich legacy

Ankur (1974)
Nishant (1975)
Manthan (1976)
Bhumika (1977)
Junoon (1979)
Kalyug (1981)
Mandi (1983)
Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda (1993)
Mammo (1994)
Zubeidaa (2001)
Mujib: The Making of a Nation (2023)