‘Shyambabu Was Like A University’

‘Being
in
his
company
was
learning
at
every
moment.’

Theatre
director,
screenwriter
and
documentary
filmmaker

Sunil
Shanbag
was
associated
with
Shyam
Benegal
for
many
years.

After
an
acting
part
in

Kalyug,
Shanbag
went
on
to
co-write
Benegal’s
mammoth
television
series,

Bharat
Ek
Khoj.

He
shares
his
memories
with



Rediff.com
Senior
Contributor

Neeta
Kolhatkar
and
says,
“He
was
extremely
well
read;
his
understanding
of
subjects
was
so
sharp.”

How
far
back
does
your
association
with
Shyam
Benegal
go?

My
association
with
him,
not
directly,
goes
back
to
the
late
1970s,
because
the
director
under
whom
I
worked
for
nearly
a
decade,
Satyadev
Dubey,
was
a
part
of
Shyambabu‘s
group.

Those
days,
there
was
a
lot
of
overlap
between
experimental
theatre
and
cinema.
They
would
come
and
watch
our
theatre
because
they
straddled
both
worlds.

So
Shyambabu
had
been
watching
our
theatre
right
from
that
time.

My
direct
contact
with
him
came
on
the
film

Kalyug,
which
Shashi
Kapoor
produced
and
Shyambabu
directed.

The
story
of
the
Mahabharat
played
out
in
a
modern
industrialist
family.
I
played
a
small
part
in
that
film
and
spent
a
month-and-a-half
on
that
shoot.
He
made
the
tradition
of
all
the
actors
being
there
every
day.
It
was
a
theatre-like
atmosphere.

That
is
when
I
got
to
know
him
better
and
spend
time
with
him.

Then
I
got
to
work
with
him
on
several
television
projects
and
another
feature
film.
So
my
association
with
him
goes
on
for
another
10-12
years.

Tell
us
about
the
television
projects.
Any
specific
one
that
you
cherish?

Several
of
them.

Bharat
Ek
Khoj
(a
series
based
on
Jawaharlal
Nehru’s
book
Discovery
of
India)
was
directed
by
Shyam
Benegal.

There
were
other
writers
but
Shama
Zaidi
and
I
stayed
on
the
project
from
start
to
finish.

Shama
has
been
a
very
close
associate
of
Shyambabu
for
many
years;
she
continued
to
work
with
him
though
I
moved
on
to
other
projects.

This
was
a
lifetime
project,
I
mean
covering
a
thousand
years
of
Indian
history
packed
into
54
one-hour
episodes.
That’s
54
hours
of
television!

It
was
a
huge
project,
extremely
challenging.

It
was
like
an
informal
post
graduation.

It
was
very
exciting
to
work
with
Shyambabu;
he
was
like
a
university.

Being
in
his
company
was
learning
at
every
moment.

He
was
extremely
well
read;
his
understanding
of
subjects
was
so
sharp.

He
was
extremely
generous.
I
was
young
and
he
would
share
his
knowledge
just
out
of
the
desire
to
talk
about
things.

Mr
Benegal’s
passing
is
a
huge
loss.
It’s
not
just
personal,
more
so
for
cinema.
What
are
your
thoughts?

His
passing
is
a
big
blow
to
a
particular
kind
of
filmmaking.
That’s
a
bigger
loss
than
anything
else.

It
is
a
personal
loss,
of
course,
but
this
is
a
very
big
loss.

We
were
very
lucky
because
he
celebrated
his
90th
birthday
just
a
few
days
ago.

Can
you
tell
us
about
that
occasion?

It
was
a
wonderful
evening,
put
together
by
his
family.

Many
of
us
who
had
been
associated
with
him
over
a
period
of
time
were
fortunate
to
be
there.

We
spent
an
hour
or
so
with
him.

He
was
already
not
too
well
but
he
came
and
spent
some
time
with
us.

It
was
wonderful
meeting
him
and
your
colleagues
of
20
years
ago.

It
was
a
kind
of
gathering
of
the
people
who
had
worked
with
him
and
had
been
deeply
impacted
by
him.