Days after filmmaker Shyam Benegal’s demise, his actor friends Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah on Saturday remembered his “broad, warm smile” and how he stayed true to his goals as a creative person. .

At a memorial service at the YB Chavan Center in south Mumbai, many from the film industry including Azmi, Shah, Javed Akhtar, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Ila Arun, Prahlad Kakkar, Urmila Matondkar, Divya Dutta gathered to honor Benegal.

“My first image of Shyam Benegal was in 1973 and the thing that impressed me most about him was his wide, warm smile when I went to meet him at the ASP office, where he was the creative director and ‘Ankur ‘Were looking for artists for. ,

“The last image I had of Shyam was on December 14, 2024, when he, Neera and Pia hosted a celebration for his 90th birthday. After spending a beautiful hour with us, he walked away with the same warm smile Gone, Azmi said.

The filmmaker died on December 23 after suffering from chronic kidney disease.

Azmi, who worked with Benegal in films like “Ankur”, “Nishant”, “Junoon”, “Sussman” and “Antarnad”, shared an anecdote about Benegal’s personal life.

“Not many people know that Shyam Benegal was a romantic. He learned that Neera (his wife) loved yellow flowers, so on the day they got married, he sent her a bouquet of yellow flowers and wrote a message on it, ‘Only 23 hours’. Then the bouquets kept coming every hour till the marriage took place. Can you imagine? If I were Neera, I would have postponed the marriage, it was too sweet,” Azmi said.

Shah, who worked with Benegal in classic films like “Nishant”, “Manthan” and “Mandi”, said the filmmaker remained true to his pursuit as a creative person.

“Death is an insignificant part of life and what is important is what you do with the time you have. It is undeniable that Shyam used every single moment, breath and bit of energy of his life in some kind of creative pursuit,” he said.

At the memorial service, Atul Tiwari gifted Benegal’s wife Neera and daughter Pia Benegal a book he had written on the late director, “Mentor”.

Kakkar said that he admires Benegal for how he inspired everyone around him, from actors to writers.

“His approach was that if you’re ever going to be a filmmaker, you can’t have a designation, you can never say, ‘That’s not my problem’. That’s one thing he taught us, that everything related to films, from serving food to cooking, from cleaning to supervising carpenters to sitting with writers, everything is your job.

“I could never have imagined his great generosity of spirit, and his ability to teach, mentor and inspire. I’ve seen him inspire actors, writers and people around him to see what they can do. This is the greatest gift for all of us,” he said.

Azmi said that she considered Benegal her mentor and often sought his suggestions on offers she received as an actor.

“Shyam Benegal was my mentor, though reluctant. He did not want me to be called anyone’s guru, but still he was my guru. He was my guru not only because he was my first director but by being around him I learned many lessons of life.

“He was my guru. From time to time I would seek advice from him about a project as to what I should or should not do. He neither wanted to be my teacher nor my guru. He was my friend, my equal and he made space for this friendship. He gave me equal respect and the ability to stand up,” Azmi recalled.

(This report has been published as part of an auto-generated syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, there have been no edits to the copy by ABP Live.)