Dev Benegal

Dev Benegal
Born (1960-12-28) 28 December 1960
New Delhi, India
Occupation film director, screenwriter

Dev Benegal (Konkani: देव बॅनॅगल) (born 28 December 1960) is an Indian director and screenwriter, most known for his debut film English, August (1994), which won the 1995 National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English.

Early life and education

Dev was born in Bombay to Som Benegal, a theatre director, and his wife Suman. He has one brother, Rahul. Som Benegal was the younger brother of Shyam Benegal, the noted film director, and a relative of Guru Dutt, the renowned film actor and director. Suman Benegal is the sister of Snehlata Sanyal, wife of B. C. Sanyal and mother of Amba Ravindran.

Dev Benegal grew up in New Delhi. In 1979, he left Delhi for Mumbai (then Bombay), to pursue a career in movies.[1] He studied Cinematography for two years at the Film School of New York University in the late 1980s.[1][2]

Career

After serving as the assistant to his uncle, Shyam Benegal in films like Kalyug (1980), Mandi (1983) and his famous documentary on Satyajit Ray, 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 and Abhivardhan: Building for a New Life (1992). In 1994 he wrote and directed his adaptation of Upamanyu Chatterjee's 1989 novel by the same name, based on the Indian Administrative Service, English, August (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,[3] 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.[1][4]

Split Wide Open (1999), another Hinglish film, was also a critical success and won a Special Jury Prize at the 2000 Singapore International 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.[3][4][5]

His project Samurai was selected for the Hong Kong Asia Film Finance Forum (HAF),[6] but eventually was not screened.[7]

Dev Benegal is currently developing a film on the life of mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.[8]

Filmography

Documentaries

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 Cinema under the sky: Mint, 21 December 2007.
  2. ↑ Film to celebrate maths genius By Soutik Biswas, BBC News, 16 March 2006.
  3. 1 2 Road Movie schedule and Dev Benegal profile Toronto International Film Festival.
  4. 1 2 Dev Benegal's Road Movie to premiere at Toronto fest Hindustan Times, 28 August 2009.
  5. ↑ Road, Movie is a reflection of my journey, says director CNN IBN, 15 September 2009.
  6. ↑ Dev Benegal’s project ‘Samurai’ Selected for HAF By DearCinema.com, 6 January 2010.
  7. ↑ IFEA delegation in Hong Kong, attending Film & TV market
  8. ↑ British Council ropes in Indian alumni to promote UK varsities
  9. ↑ Awards IMDB
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