"We always want our greats to live on forever,&rdquo; says <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/bollywood-news/article/shahana-goswami-despatch-actress-calls-manoj-bajpayee-a-child-easy-to-work-with-23449689" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Manoj Bajpayee,</a> moments into our call with him. On Monday evening, that wish was shattered as Shyam Benegal, one of the finest filmmakers of Hindi cinema, passed away at 90.&nbsp;
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2024/dec/manoj-shyamd_e.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" />
For Bajpayee, Benegal, who cast him as the male lead in Zubeidaa (2001), represented someone who made him confident about his looks. &ldquo;When nobody could understand why he cast me as a prince in Zubeidaa, he had his own idea. For him, I was a better-looking guy than all the real princes at that time. He gave me a lot of confidence when I didn&rsquo;t have confidence in my own looks. Every day, I would rush to be on the sets with him, to listen to him and be directed by him. It was a time that I will never be able to forget,&rdquo; recounts the actor.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2024/dec/Amol-Palekar_e.jpg" alt="Amol Palekar" width="1280" height="720" /> Amol Palekar
Bajpayee echoes the sentiments of many in the film industry when he describes Benegal as &ldquo;a pioneer, a pathbreaker, and a guiding light for so many filmmakers of this generation&rdquo;. &ldquo;It was all started by that great man. It&rsquo;s a sad day for all of us, who define cinema not as a commercial medium, but as one of art. He never compromised with the art of cinema. He kept changing the grammar of cinema. I admire him because he was existing in the extreme times when mainstream cinema was ruling the roost, where Mr Amitabh Bachchan came like a tsunami. Here was a man quietly carving a niche for himself, carving a new path for all the new generations to come.&rdquo;
<a href="https://www.mid-day.com/news/opinion/article/the-real-amol-palekar-of-all-times-23244591" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Amol Palekar</a> fondly remembered the filmmaker with whom he collaborated on Bhumika (1977), which was fronted by the late Smita Patil. Saddened by the loss, Palekar said, &ldquo;The film industry should bow to the last Trojan! I do.&rdquo;
<h2>The rich legacy</h2>
Ankur (1974) Nishant (1975) Manthan (1976) Bhumika (1977) Junoon (1979) Kalyug (1981) Mandi (1983) Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda (1993) Mammo (1994) Zubeidaa (2001) Mujib: The Making of a Nation (2023)
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Shyam Benegal passes away: Bhumika collaborator Amol Palekar and Zubeidaa actor Manoj Bajpayee remember the pioneer who spearheaded parallel cinema

Amol Palekar and Manoj Bajpayee pay tribute to Shyam Benegal

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Bhumika collaborator Amol Palekar and Zubeidaa actor Manoj Bajpayee remember the pioneer who spearheaded parallel cinema

Amol Palekar and Manoj Bajpayee pay tribute to Shyam Benegal

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Amol Palekar and Manoj Bajpayee pay tribute to Shyam Benegal

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