Neena Gupta’s Secret Project With Shyambabu

‘I
have
done
a
one-hour
film
on
soya
bean
with
him!’

Neena
Gupta
worked
with
Shyam
Benegal
in

Trikaal,
Susman,
Mandi
and
the
Doordarshan
television
series

Yatra,
and
she
calls
him
an
encyclopaedia.

“I
have
been
wanting
to
go
and
see
him
for
sometime
now,”
she
tells

Subhash
K
Jha.

“I
have
worked
with
a
lot
of
good
directors
over
the
past
years
but
I
worked
with
him
when
I
was
very
new.”

“We
used
to
joke
and
say
that
he
can
talk
about
everything,
from
the
history
of
a
safety
pin
to
anything
in
the
world!
He
was
very
erudite,
very
knowledgeable.

“I
went
to
Rio
de
Janeiro
with
him
for

Trikaal.
I
have
learnt
so
much
from
him,
not
just
about
filmmaking
but
about
life.

“Suraj
Ka
Satvan
Ghoda
is
one
of
my
favourite
films.
He
had
taken
somebody
else
and
that
didn’t
work
out.
The
last
minute,
he
called
me.
Of
course,
he
called
and
I
jumped
to
do
it.
But
it
was
a
very
difficult
film.
I
still
don’t
understand
that
film
sometimes.

“But
his
technique
in
that
film
is
amazing.
He
would
tell
you
the
gist
of
the
film,
and
then
he
will
let
you
interpret
the
character.
People
don’t
know
about
the
secret
project
I’ve
done
with
Shyam
Benegal.”

“I
have
done
a
one-hour
film
on
soya
bean
with
him!”
Neena
informs
us.

“They
were
promoting
the
soya
bean
then,
and
soya
bean
oil.
We
were
shooting
in
a
village
in
Hyderabad.
There
was
a
very
nice
song
in
that
film
too.
People
don’t
know
about
this
film.

“Then
I
was
supposed
to
do
a
movie
adaptation
of
Georges
Bizet’s
classic
Spanish
opera

Carmen
with
him.
He
fell
sick.
so
that
film
didn’t
happen.
I
felt
very
bad.

“He
always
made
women-oriented
films,
like

Trikaal,
Mandi…

“He
did
this
amazing
series
called

Discovery
of
India,
which
is
an
archival
thing
today.
I
was
not
in
that;
I
was
shooting,
so
he
didn’t
take
me.
I
got
very
angry,
so
I
went
to
his
set.
I
said,
make
me
stand
in
the
crowd.
He
was
very
embarrassed
and
said,
‘No,
why
will
you
stand
in
the
crowd?'”

Then
Neena
comes
to
her
most
important
work
with
Shyambabu.

“A
very,
very
big
thing
I
did
with
him
was

Yatra.
He
gave
me
a
double
role.
We
used
to
have
a
train
to
ourselves
and
we
would
decorate
our
own
bogie.
Shyambabu
had
his
private
bogie.

Yatra
was
entirely
shot
on
a
train,
and
we
traveled
all
over
India
in
it.

Neena
recalls
her
visit
to
Paris
with
Shyambabu.
“He
knew
such
amazing
restaurants
and
had
amazing
knowledge
about
food.
He
would
take
us
to
expensive
and
highly
rated
places
in
Paris.

“I
was
a
vegetarian,
so
I
wouldn’t
eat
anything.
One
day,
during
the
shooting,
he
asked
me
what
I
would
like
to
have.
I
said,
I
am
in
France,
so
I’ll
have
French
fries.
He
laughed
and
laughed.
He
said,
‘Stupid
girl,
French
fries
are
not
French!’

“We
stayed
in
a
hotel
in
Champs
Elysees
and
the
room
was
so
small
that
there
was
just
this
bed.

“I
had
to
wear
a
sari,
and
get
ready
from
the
hotel
itself.
But
there
was
no
space
to
put
on
my
sari!
So
I
used
to
climb
up
on
the
bed
and
wear
my
sari.

“Shyam
was
a
very
important
part
of
my
life
and
career.
Shooting
his
films
were
like
picnics.”

“Mandi
had
an
amazing
message.
What
he
said
was
that
sex
workers
have
their
own
rights,
their
own
feelings.
We
should
treat
them
as
human
beings,
not
as
objects.”