Change is the only constant in Mumbai, but in one of the corners of the city, consistency is the norm. Since 1977, Shyam Benegal has been ...
Change is the only constant in Mumbai, but in one of the corners of the city, consistency is the norm.
Since 1977, Shyam Benegal has been punching an imaginary clock at his office in Mumbai’s Tardeo neighbourhood. He arrives here at around 10 am and usually leaves before 6 pm. Except when he is at a shoot or on a trip (or the time he was a Member of Parliament at the Rajya Sabha between 2006 and 2012), this is where Benegal can be – and wants to be – found.
Benegal works out of a cosy cabin that has a writing desk but no computer, a few drawings on the wall, hundreds of books, and a wall-to-wall mirror. The computers are in the waiting area that is used by his staff. “I am very old-fashioned, I don’t enjoy computers,” he said over the course of a lengthy interview. Throughout the conversation, Benegal never once got out of his chair.
At 86, Benegal has long been the object of media attention. Unfailingly polite and articulate, a voice of reason for all seasons, Benegal treats curious journalists with the same thoughtfulness with which he has approached his films, documentaries and television shows. His movies have...
