Shyam Benegal passed away in Mumbai today at the age of 90. Throughout his long and illustrious career he made many memorable movies and along the way, Shyam Benegal gave the world of cinema many new actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Rajit Kapur and more. Soni Razdan, who was then a popular theatre actor, found her first tryst with limelight in Shyam Benegal’s Mandi. Talking to Filmfare, she revealed all her fond memories of Shyam Benegal and his indelible legacy. In her own words…
I used to live in Tardeo those days and his office in Everest building was just next to my house. So, I’d often drop in. He had, of course, seen my work in plays like Bandh Darwaaze and Satyadev Dubey’s other plays, so maybe that registered with him. He offered me a role in Mandi (1983). It was so much fun living like an entire family. We travelled by train to Hyderabad. Our location was 1.5 hours from where we were staying. I enjoyed playing Nadira in Mandi.
As artistes we were thoda different and he represented a Brave New World for us. I remember sharing the room with Neena Gupta, we became friends and remain so to date. Then there was so many of us together. Dubey and Shama Zaidi working on the lines and of course artistes like Naseeruddin Shah, Annu Kapoor, Ila Arun, Anita Kanwar. The camaraderie was unbelievable.
Shyam always reminded me of a kid in a candy store with a smile on his face and a faraway look in his eyes. For our generation of actors, his cinema was decidedly different and really opened new avenues for us. It was perhaps my second film after 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981). A lot of us actors from Mandi then went on to do serials like Buniyaad. I would drop in to his house often those days and have long chats with him. After I moved to Juhu, we all got busy with our own lives.
He was a sweet, gentle soul. His eyes looked into you, not through you. I remember the entire star cast, we went to the theatres Ganga Jamuna in Tardeo and watched Mandi. It was outstanding and much, much ahead of its times, recalling a world of literature and magical realism perhaps.
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