A R Rahman pays Homage to Shyam Benegal

A R Rahman pays Homage to Shyam Benegal

While art lovers are still recovering from the humongous loss of Tabla virtuoso Ustaad Zakir Hussain, another loss has struck them in the form of the sad demise of legendary filmmaker Shyam Benegal.

Known to have given momentum to the parallel cinema in India, Benegal was known for his meaningful cinema as well as informative documentaries like Bharat Ek Khoj, an archival series documenting Bharat’s glorious heritage and history. The series was telecast on Doordarshan during late 80s and 90s and is still available on Youtube for viewing. The docuseries was based on a book authored by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru.

The entire film industry paid their tribute to the erudite filmmaker. A R Rahman, who collaborated with the filmmaker on movies like Zubeida and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose-The Forgotten Hero, shared his grief with the Filmfare.

Rahman said, “There are some people who take art a notch higher through their filmmaking, their lyrics or just their thoughts. Shyam ji was one of them. I remember researching for his films, be it Zubeidaa (2001) and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2005) – both period pieces. He wasn’t very exacting. He was easy to work with. I recall Javed saab having discussions with him and then Javed saab and I working on the songs together."

Adding further he remembered how the filmmaker would approve the tunes he would compose instantly with a courteous ‘nice, nice!’, which the composer found different from routine film song sittings. Interestingly, the filmmaker would also picturize the songs beforehand the tunes.

He ended his quote by saying that all good people are going away. In the earlier week, he tweeted about the passing away of Ustaad Zakir Hussain expressing his regret of not having collaborated with the legend like earlier times, although they had planned an album together.