Karisma Kapoor was able to chart new horizons and create new career highs thanks to Shyam Benegal’s Zubeidaa, back in 2001. As the senior filmmaker and storyteller passed away today, Karisma felt akin to losing a family member. In conversation with Filmfare, she reveals that Shyam Benegal was like her own grandfather Raj Kapoor. In her words…
Shyam Benegal was like a second grandfather to me. He shares a birthday with my dada ji (Raj Kapoor) on December 14. Like dada ji, Shyam babu was knowledgeable about cinema and so many other things. He was stylish and gave me advise on so many things. I remember when he offered me Zubeidaa (2001) I was at the peak of my stint as a commercial film actor. A lot of top filmmakers advised me against doing it saying if I did an “arty” film, it would end my career. But I was gung-ho. I knew I would have to unlearn so many of the things, literally break myself and start afresh.
I remember during every reading, he would make me Khow Suey. Like my dada ji introduced me to Peshawari food, Shyam ji introduced me to Khow Suey.
He made me take off all the make up on sets and just have stained lips. He told me to forget everything that I had learnt in commercial cinema and start afresh and like an obedient student I did just that. He would say, “Don’t act, feel the lines and say it”. Zubeidaa was one of the first films with sync sound dialogue. So I had to get the accent, intonation… everything right. I felt privileged as Shyam ji had worked with thespian actors like Shabana ji and Smita Patil and then I got this opportunity of a lifetime.
I got introduced to a different kind of fashion. We wore real jewellery and chiffons. There would be bodyguards from the palace to keep an eye on the jewellery. I recall a particular scene where Manoj Bajpayee’s character tells me, I can’t go with him on the campaign trail. I had whipped myself into a lather and I was supposed to walk off into the balcony in a huff, crying. As luck would have, it my heels caught the tail end of the cloth on the table and all the bone China on the set came crashing down. I continued the scene. And Shyam ji was like, this is the perfect take. You have got into the skin of the wife who felt unloved and abandoned in that moment.
There were so many learnings. I remember, I was shooting 20 days at the palace and then rushing off to do Dil To Pagal Hai.
With Shyam ji’s passing away, it truly feels like the end of an era. I feel I’ve lost my dada ji all over again.
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