Dev Benegal is an Indian filmmaker and screenwriter, most known for his debut film ''
English, August
''English, August: An Indian Story'' is a novel by Indian author Upamanyu Chatterjee written in English, first published in 1988. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1994. The novel portrays the struggle of a civil servant who is po ...
'' (1994), which won the
Best Feature Film in English at the
42nd National Film Awards
The 42nd National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1994. Ceremony took place in 1 ...
.
Early life and education
Dev was born in
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...
to Som Benegal, a theatre director, and his wife Suman.
Dev Benegal grew up in New Delhi. In 1979, he left Delhi for Mumbai (then Bombay), to pursue a career in movies.
[Cinema under the sky:]
Mint, 21 December 2007. He won an Asian Cultural Council grant in Film, Video & Photography to study Film History in the Cinema Studies Program at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, ...
from 1989–90.
[Grant awarded to Dev Benegal]
/ref>
Career
Early career
He began his career with legendary animator Ram Mohan
Ram Mohan (26 August 1931 – 11 October 2019) was an Indian animator, title designer and design educator, who was also known as father of Indian Animation and was a veteran in the Indian animation industry, who started his career at the Carto ...
and got his first job with Shashi Kapoor
Shashi Kapoor (pronounced �əʃi kəpuːɾ (born Balbir Raj Kapoor; 18 March 1938 – 4 December 2017) was an Indian actor and film producer who is best known for his work in Hindi films. A recipient of several accolades, including four Natio ...
's Filmvalas. After assisting Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal (born 14 December 1934) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as the pioneer of parallel cinema, he is widely considered as one of the greatest filmmakers post 1970s. He has received s ...
in films like '' Kalyug'' (1980), '' Mandi'' (1983) and his famous documentary on Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs o ...
—''Satyajit Ray, Filmmaker'' (1984)—Dev Benegal directed a series of short short films, ''Kalpavriksha: The Tree of Life'' (1988), ''Kanakambaram: Cloth: of Gold'' (1987), and ''Anantarupam: The Infinite Forms'' (1987). He directed several documentaries, including ''Shabana!'' (2003) with Indian film star Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of Hindi film, television and theatre. One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several ge ...
and ''Abhivardhan: Building for a New Life'' (1992).
Debut Feature Film and India's National Film Award
In 1994 he wrote and directed his adaptation of Upamanyu Chatterjee
Upamanyu Chatterjee (born 1959) is an author and a retired Indian civil servant. His works include the novel '' English, August: An Indian story'', '' The Last Burden'', '' The Mammaries of the Welfare State'' and '' Weight Loss''. In 2008, he wa ...
's 1989 novel by the same name, based on the Indian Administrative Service
The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the India ...
, ''English, August
''English, August: An Indian Story'' is a novel by Indian author Upamanyu Chatterjee written in English, first published in 1988. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1994. The novel portrays the struggle of a civil servant who is po ...
'' (1994). The film received praise from critics for its modern and urban themes and was hailed as the cinematic counterpart to the later Anglo-Indian literary movement. It also won the Best Feature Film in English Award at National Film Awards,[Road Movie schedule and Dev Benegal profile](_blank)
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
. and is now hailed as a landmark in contemporary Indian cinema as it ushered in a wave of independent Indian filmmakers, commonly known as "multiplex films" in India.[Dev Benegal's Road Movie to premiere at Toronto fest](_blank)
Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia.
It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...
, 28 August 2009.
The New York Times wrote: In "English, August
''English, August: An Indian Story'' is a novel by Indian author Upamanyu Chatterjee written in English, first published in 1988. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1994. The novel portrays the struggle of a civil servant who is po ...
", his first feature film, Mr. Benegal deftly manages the feat of using the scalpel of humor to lay bare a young man's painful but edifying immersion in an alien culture within his own land and to deliver potent sociological and political messages. Irreverent humor, frustrated idealism and earnest compassion are blended with a keen sense of character, place and political reality in the auspicious ''English, August.''
"English, August" won the Special Jury Award at the 12th Torino Film Festival 1994.[ ] It won both the Silver Montgolfiere (Silver Grand Prix) and the Gilberto Martinez Solares prize for the Best First Film at the 16th Festival des 3 Continents, Nantes France, 1994
Later Films and Upcoming Projects
'' Split Wide Open'' (1999), another Hinglish
Hinglish, a portmanteau of Hindi and English, is the macaronic hybrid use of English and languages of the Indian subcontinent, and especially Hindi. It involves code-switching or translanguaging between these languages whereby they are freel ...
film, was also a critical success and won a Special Jury Prize at the 2000 Singapore International Film Festival. Writing for The Hindu, Savitha Padmanabhan said: "''Split Wide Open'' is a bold and strong statement on the filth and lawlessness that have wormed their way into the city of dreams, Mumbai". In an article for The Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...
, the film's lead actor Rahul Bose
Rahul Bose (born 27 July 1967) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, and social activist. Bose has appeared in Bengali films such as '' Mr. and Mrs. Iyer'', ''Kalpurush'', '' Anuranan'', '' Antaheen'', '' Laptop'' and '' The Japanese Wif ...
wrote: "Critics flayed me: After Split Wide Open was released, critics ripped apart my character. To be an English-speaking slum-dweller who is also a smuggler, I spent a month in slums and even shadowed a cocaine-dealer for two weeks. Ironically, the criticism at home turned into praise when I won the Best Actor award for Split Wide Open at the Singapore Film Festival."
Benegal's latest film, '' Road, Movie'' (2009), about a travelling cinema troupe in Rajasthan, and starring Abhay Deol and Tannishtha Chatterjee as the lead, premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
.The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...
wrote: "Dev Benegal's 'Road, Movie' takes you on a magical mystery tour into the heart of India and its robust cinema. It is, in fact, a road movie without the comma, but it is also about being on the road in a vast Indian landscape and about the phenomenon of touring cinemas that still exist in rural India. The film is specifically Indian, yet designed for wider appreciation in festivals and, if all goes well at the European Film Market, in cross-over releases in international territories."
His project ''Bombay Samourai'' was an official selection for the Hong Kong Asia Film Finance Forum (HAF) at the HongKong International Film Festival. This film is in development.
Dev Benegal is also developing a film on the life of mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan
Srinivasa Ramanujan (; born Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyangar, ; 22 December 188726 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician. Though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis, ...
.
Other works
24x7 Making Movies
In 2006, Benegal started a production program called 24×7 Making Movies, where he invited young people from all over India to come and make a film in 24 hours. The program has produced over 60 short feature films.
Screenwriting
Benegal is a long time advisor to eQuinoxe Screenwriting Workshops for Professionals. He has been invited by Under The Volcano, the international program of writing master classes to create and conduct a screenwriting master class for their 2020 program.
Themes and style
Pritish Nandy while describing Benegal's films, said: "Dev Benegal spearheads the brat pack of movie directors who are all out to prove that indian movies is not all pelvis thrusting and running around trees."
An academic paper ''(Prateek, Prateek. (2013). "Popart": The 'global' avatar of bollywood. 5. 247-257)'' on Bollywood draws upon insights from his work and describes it as follows: "Benegal's cinematic dialogue with Indianness of English along with Englishness of India, with narratives of belonging, and with the compacted heterogeneity of urban-industrial India, established in his early cinema... Benegal understands the gravity of the national metaphor of 'unity in diversity', and tries to manifest it in the polyphony of various languages and different dialects – English, Hindi, and Telugu. Equally important are his 'artistic' story-telling skills, a trait usually found in the art cinema: the capacity to create credible characters (human or otherwise, like Dadru, the frog) and cultures, skilful scene-setting, mastery of pace and timing, and power of imagination."
Filmography
Screenplays
Documentaries
Awards
, -
, 2014
, Dead, End ''(screenplay)''
, Network of Asian Fantastic Films PrizeTokyo International Film Festival
The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be th ...
, -
, 2000
, Split Wide Open
, Special Jury PrizeBratislava International Film Festival The Bratislava International Film Festival (also known as Bratislava IFF) is an international film festival established in 1999 and held annually in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Apart from the international competition programme, it also regularly featur ...
, -
, 2000
, Split Wide Open
, Best Actor for Rahul Bose
Rahul Bose (born 27 July 1967) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, and social activist. Bose has appeared in Bengali films such as '' Mr. and Mrs. Iyer'', ''Kalpurush'', '' Anuranan'', '' Antaheen'', '' Laptop'' and '' The Japanese Wif ...
English, August
''English, August: An Indian Story'' is a novel by Indian author Upamanyu Chatterjee written in English, first published in 1988. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1994. The novel portrays the struggle of a civil servant who is po ...
, Best Feature Film in English
,
, National Film Awards
, -
, 1994
, English, August
''English, August: An Indian Story'' is a novel by Indian author Upamanyu Chatterjee written in English, first published in 1988. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1994. The novel portrays the struggle of a civil servant who is po ...
, Silver Montgolfiere (Silver Grand Prix)English, August
''English, August: An Indian Story'' is a novel by Indian author Upamanyu Chatterjee written in English, first published in 1988. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1994. The novel portrays the struggle of a civil servant who is po ...
, Golden Montgolfiere (Golden Grand Prix)English, August
''English, August: An Indian Story'' is a novel by Indian author Upamanyu Chatterjee written in English, first published in 1988. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1994. The novel portrays the struggle of a civil servant who is po ...
, Gilberto Martinez Solares (Best First Film)English, August
''English, August: An Indian Story'' is a novel by Indian author Upamanyu Chatterjee written in English, first published in 1988. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1994. The novel portrays the struggle of a civil servant who is po ...
, Special Jury AwardEnglish, August
''English, August: An Indian Story'' is a novel by Indian author Upamanyu Chatterjee written in English, first published in 1988. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1994. The novel portrays the struggle of a civil servant who is po ...
, Prize of the City of Torino
References
External links
Dev Benegal Weblog
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Benegal, Dev
1960 births
Living people
Film directors from Delhi
Hindi-language film directors
Indian male screenwriters
Indian documentary filmmakers
20th-century Indian film directors
21st-century Indian film directors