Shyam Benegal awarded for cinematic excellence

Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, best known for new wave cinema in Bollywood, was recently awarded the South Asian Cinema Foundation’s Excellence in Cinema Award.

The 77-year-old director was given the award for outstanding contribution to the Indian Cinema.

With a��career spanning almost 40 years, Shyam Benegal’s first film as director was ‘Ankur’ (1974) starring Shabana Azmi. He then went on to direct films such as ‘Nishant’ (1975), ‘Mandi’ (1983), ‘Sardaari Begum’ (1996), Zubeidaa (2001) and ‘Welcome To Sajjanpur’ (2008).

He has directed an incredible��25 films spanning over four decades,��17 of which have won some sort of award, whether it��be a Filmfare Award or the National Award.

His most recent release was ‘Well Done Abba’ (2010) starring Boman Irani and Minnisha Lamba.

Noveed Rasib