Shyam Benegal: I don’t believe that I can make a sustained web series at my age – Times of India

In this day and age where filmmakers are taking a plunge into the OTT space and exploring the long story telling formats in the form of web shows, veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal shows no signs to take that dive. The director of films like Nishant (1975), Mandi (1983) and Zubeidaa (2001) shares, “Although, OTT is an exciting medium, I do not believe that I can make a sustained web series at my age. Temperamentally, I am a long format cinema filmmaker.”

The award-winning director and screenwriter caught up with Bombay Times at the recently concluded Mumbai International Film Festival. On the occasion, he said, “I have been witness to all the Mumbai International Film Festivals ever since the festival began. It was started by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to recognize short filmmaking as an art form in its own right, which until then was only recognized for its worth as a vehicle of information and education, rather than for its artistic worth.” Talking about the added incentive at the festival this year, he said, “It was the disbursal of substantial prize money, for winning entries. This has helped not only to revive short filmmaking in India, but also to enthuse and attract cineastes to this form of cinema. Earlier, short filmmaking survived mainly on the films produced and distributed by the films division.”

Benegal, who was delighted seeing the creativity displayed by the filmmakers at the event, further spoke about the response to MIFF this year. He said, “I think the response to MIFF has been excellent. Equally, the response from filmmakers from other countries has been more than forthcoming, who have entered the best of their short films in the competition section. The festival this year has attracted enthusiastic audiences. This is reassuring and tells us that short filmmaking, which is essentially a labour of love and totally self-motivated with only the satisfaction of having made a worthwhile film, is still worth making.”

The filmmaker, who recently directed a Bangladesh-India co-production venture, Mujib: The Making of a Nation, concluded saying that there is no stopping for him as a director. He signed off saying, “I have never stopped making feature films and will not stop until nature intervenes.”