Kolkata: When Shyam Benegal commenced the music recording for ‘Mujib: The Making of a Nation‘, he was already undergoing dialysis. After his demise on Monday, the music composer of his final four films, Shantanu Moitrarecollected Benegal’s resilience and how he never mentioned his medical treatment if he arrived late for the music recording sessions.
All he expressed was: “I may be a little late today for the recording. I hope that is OK with you”. Benegal was keen to attend the Dhaka premiere of the film last year, though health complications came in the way. One of Benegal’s robust connections with Bengal was the film society movement. Parimal Mukherjee, general secretary, Cine Central, recalled meeting Benegal in 1974 when he came for the Kolkata premiere of his ‘Ankur’.
“He visited our Cine Central office and discussed the emergence of new Hindi cinema and the film society movement. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the release of ‘Pather Panchali’, he had released our publication of its original script in English,” Mukherjee stated, whilst acknowledging Benegal’s associations with the likes of Mrinal Sen, Soumitra Chatterjee and Sombhu Mitra.
Speaking to TOI from Chicago, Mrinal Sen’s son Kunal Sen said Benegal had great respect for his father. “My Ma (Gita Sen) also acted in Shyam Benegal’s ‘Arohan’. He was the only director besides my father with whom she worked after she started acting in films again,” Sen said.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was Benegal’s another profound connection with Bengal. Not many know that Benegal’s uncle, Ramesh, was based in Rangoon (now Yangon) and it was through him that Benegal had close ties with Bose. His uncle was one of the 35 people who had volunteered when Netaji visited Rangoon and wanted to set up an air force.
In 2005, Benegal cast Jisshu U Sengupta to portray Sisir Bose in ‘Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero. “I was merely 21-22 then. We used to have rehearsals and filmed for a fortnight. For me, he always appeared as a saint on the sets. More recently, I received an opportunity to work for him when I was supposed to portray “Mujib in his film. My look test was completed too,” Sengupta said. Sengupta ultimately didn’t play the role.
Moitra recounted how his parents had acknowledged his caliber as a music director only after he worked in Benegal’s ‘Welcome to Sajjanpur’. “With him, discourse could traverse from Havana cigars to Fidel Castro’s residence within merely half an hour. He was a voracious reader with exceptional knowledge of Western classical music too. His university in Hyderabad had received a grant from a prestigious American college through which some 300 books were dispatched there. Within the subsequent two years till his graduation, he completed reading all those books, knowing he wouldn’t have access to such a collection thereafter. ‘Mujib’, I always saw him with a book in his hands between shots,” Moitra recounted.
During music recording, Benegal would provide Moitra a brief and request him to compose something that would inspire him to react. “This methodology was different from others. I recall composing a song called ‘Ochin Majhi’ that initially wasn’t intended for the film. He was so impressed that he opted to use it in the film. He was the last of the Mohicans, ” Moitra said.