Shyam Benegal: Filmmaker and Philosopher

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For over forty years, Shyam Benegal has been one the leading forces in Indian cinema. Informed by a rich political and philosophical sensibility and a mastery of the art and craft of filmmaking, Benegal is both of, and not of, Bollywood. As a philosophical filmmaker Benegal brings to life the existential crisis of the downtrodden Indian, the subaltern if you willthe serf, the peasant, the womanand imposes a distinctive philosophical vision on his cinematic reworkings of literary products. To understand Benegals cinema is to understand, through his lens, modern Indias continued process of political and social becoming. Focusing on the philosophical depth of Benegal's oueuvre, Samir Chopra identifies three key aspects of his work: - A trio of films which signalled to middle-class India that a revolt was brewing in Indias hinterlands - Two sets of movies which make powerful feminist statements and bring viewers into the lives of Indian women by showcasing strong, interesting female characters - Benegal the master storyteller, who possessed of a unique fabulist style in a reboot of the Indian epic Mahabharata, a Ruskin Bond novel set during the Indian Mutiny of 1857, and a Rashomon-like retelling of an Indian experimental novel, where three perspectives converge to form a unified whole

Reviews

Samir Chopras fine-grained analyses of Shyam Benegals prolific output does great justice to the filmmakers intellectual reach and ambitions, putting Benegals deeply committed visions of social and gender justice in conversation with what Chopra calls philosophy in cinematic formexpressions, that is, of a moral and political philosophy enacted via the medium of cinema. Those looking for a compelling reading of Benegals substantial oeuvre will also find much to enjoy and ruminate over in Shyam Benegal: Philosopher and Filmmaker. * Anuradha Needham, Donald R. Longman Professor of English and Cinema Studies, Oberlin College, USA *
For over four decades, Indias celebrated filmmaker Shyam Benegals films have delighted audiences even as they chasten the social orderone that hurls indignities at those perceived as social outcasts. Unfiltered and unfettered by the weight of ideological prisms, Benegals films speak through the body of women at the margins, revealing her resistance in speech and action. Samir Chopra brings us closer to the legendary filmmaker and his films. Chopra curates a selection of Benegals films and persuades us to see films as philosophy in action and rumination in celluloid. This smart book has much to offer to the novice as well as film enthusiasts familiar with Indias cinema. * Ritu Gairola Khanduri, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Texas at Arlington, USA *

Author Bio

Samir Chopra is Professor of Philosophy at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, USA. He is author of A Legal Theory for Autonomous Artificial Agents (2011) and Brave New Pitch: The Evolution of Modern Cricket (2012).