Dev Benegal
Encyclopedia
Dev Benegal (born 28 December 1960) is an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n director and screenwriter, most known for his debut film English, August
English, August (film)
English, August, made in 1994, is Indian film director Dev Benegal's first feature film. This film ignited the next generation of Indian cinema and is acknowledged as a landmark in contemporary Indian cinema...

(1994), which won the 1995 National Film Award
National Film Awards
The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it is administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate of Film Festivals since 1973.Every year, a national panel...

 for Best Feature Film in English
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English
The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English winners:-References:*...

.

He is the nephew of award-winning director Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal is a prolific Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films Ankur , Nishant Manthan and Bhumika he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the "middle cinema" in India although he himself has expressed dislike in the term preferring his work to...

.

Early life and education

Born in 1960 in Bombay, to Suman Benegal and Som Benegal, a theatre director, Dev Benegal grew up in New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

. In 1979, he left Delhi for Mumbai (then Bombay), to pursue a career in movies.

Dev Benegal studied at Cambridge University and later Cinematography
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...

 for two years at the Film School of New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

 in the late 1980s.

Career

After serving as the assistant to his uncle, Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal is a prolific Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films Ankur , Nishant Manthan and Bhumika he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the "middle cinema" in India although he himself has expressed dislike in the term preferring his work to...

 in films like Kalyug
Kalyug (1980 film)
Kalyug is a Hindi film made in 1981, and was directed by Shyam Benegal.The film is known as a modern day version of an Indian mythological epic Mahabharat depicted as an archetypal-conflict between rival business houses.-Overview:...

(1980), Mandi
Mandi (film)
Mandi is a 1983 Hindi movie directed by Shyam Benegal.The film is a satirical comedy on politics and prostitution, and stars Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Smita Patil...

(1983) and his famous documentary on Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...

, 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
Shabana Azmi is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India of Pune, she made her film debut in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and...

 and Abhivardhan: Building for a New Life (1992). In 1994 he wrote and directed his adaptation of Upamanyu Chatterjee
Upamanyu Chatterjee
Upamanyu Chatterjee is an Indian Bengali author and administrator, notable for his work set in the milieu of the Indian Administrative Service, especially his novel English, August. He was born in Patna, Bihar and was educated at St. Xavier's School and St. Stephen's College, in Delhi...

's 1989 novel by the same name
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.-Plot introduction:...

, based on the Indian Administrative Service
Indian Administrative Service
The Indian Administrative Service is the administrative civil service of the Government of India. It is one of the three All India Services....

, English, August
English, August (film)
English, August, made in 1994, is Indian film director Dev Benegal's first feature film. This film ignited the next generation of Indian cinema and is acknowledged as a landmark in contemporary Indian cinema...

(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
Indian English literature
Indian English literature refers to the body of work by writers in India who write in the English language and whose native or co-native language could be one of the numerous languages of India. It is also associated with the works of members of the Indian diaspora, such as V.S...

. It also won the Best Feature Film in English Award at National Film Awards
National Film Awards
The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it is administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate of Film Festivals since 1973.Every year, a national panel...

, 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.

Split Wide Open
Split Wide Open
Split Wide Open is a 1999 Indian film and is Dev Benegal's second feature film after English, August. The film primarily deals with the Water conflicts in the slums of Bombay, and paedophilia, and also looks at the subversive sexuality in modern India and how the notions of morality are challenged...

(1999), another Hinglish
Hinglish
Hinglish, a blending of the words "Hindi" and "English", means to combine both languages in one sentence. This is more commonly seen in urban and semi-urban centers of the Hindi-speaking states of India, but is slowly spreading into rural and remote areas of these states via television, mobile...

 film, was also a critical success and won a Special Jury Prize at the 2000 Singapore International Film Festival
Singapore International Film Festival
The Singapore International Film Festival was launched in 1987. The festival is an annual film event, held around April/May each year, and screens about 300 films from over 45 countries...

. Benegal's latest film, Road, Movie
Road, Movie
Road, Movie is a 2009 Indian road movie directed by Dev Benegal, and starring Abhay Deol, Tannishtha Chatterjee, and Satish Kaushik. It premiered at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival and opened the section Generation 14plus at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2010...

(2009), about a travelling cinema troupe in Rajasthan, and starring Abhay Deol
Abhay Deol
Abhay Deol is an Indian actor from Mumbai, India. He is an Indian film actor and producer whose family has a long history in the Hindi film industry. Deol has appeared in films such as Dev.D and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!. He is the nephew of Bollywood actor Dharmendra, and the cousin of Sunny Deol and...

 and Tannishtha Chatterjee
Tannishtha Chatterjee
Tannishtha Chatterjee is an Indian actress.She is best known in the west for her performance in the British film Brick Lane , the film adaptation of Monica Ali's best selling novel of the same name. She was nominated for the British Independent Film Awards as the best actress for Brick Lane...

 as the lead, premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...

.

His project Samurai was selected for the Hong Kong Asia Film Finance Forum
Hong Kong International Film Festival
The Hong Kong International Film Festival is a platform for filmmakers, film professionals and filmgoers from all over the world to launch and experience new film work. There are seminars, conferences, exhibitions, and parties celebrating the festival community...

 (HAF), but eventually was not screened.

Dev Benegal is currently developing a film on the life of mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Srīnivāsa Aiyangār Rāmānujan FRS, better known as Srinivasa Iyengar Ramanujan was a Indian mathematician and autodidact who, with almost no formal training in pure mathematics, made extraordinary contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions...

.

Filmography

  • Samurai (2010)
  • Road, Movie
    Road, Movie
    Road, Movie is a 2009 Indian road movie directed by Dev Benegal, and starring Abhay Deol, Tannishtha Chatterjee, and Satish Kaushik. It premiered at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival and opened the section Generation 14plus at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2010...

    (2009)
  • Split Wide Open
    Split Wide Open
    Split Wide Open is a 1999 Indian film and is Dev Benegal's second feature film after English, August. The film primarily deals with the Water conflicts in the slums of Bombay, and paedophilia, and also looks at the subversive sexuality in modern India and how the notions of morality are challenged...

    (1999)
  • English, August
    English, August (film)
    English, August, made in 1994, is Indian film director Dev Benegal's first feature film. This film ignited the next generation of Indian cinema and is acknowledged as a landmark in contemporary Indian cinema...

    (1994)

Documentaries

  • Shabana! (2003)
  • Merchants & Marxists: Stones of the Raj (1997)
  • Field of Shadows (1993)
  • Abhivardhan: Building for a New Life (1992)
  • Kalpavriksha: The Tree of Life (1988)
  • Kanakambaram: Cloth of Gold (1987)
  • Anantarupam: The Infinite Forms (1987)

Awards

  • Festival des 3 Continents
    • 1994: Silver Montgolfiere (Silver Grand Prix): English, August
      English, August (film)
      English, August, made in 1994, is Indian film director Dev Benegal's first feature film. This film ignited the next generation of Indian cinema and is acknowledged as a landmark in contemporary Indian cinema...

    • 1994: Gilberto Martinez Solares (Best First Film): English, August
      English, August (film)
      English, August, made in 1994, is Indian film director Dev Benegal's first feature film. This film ignited the next generation of Indian cinema and is acknowledged as a landmark in contemporary Indian cinema...

  • 1994: Special Jury Award: Torino International Film Festival: English, August
    English, August (film)
    English, August, made in 1994, is Indian film director Dev Benegal's first feature film. This film ignited the next generation of Indian cinema and is acknowledged as a landmark in contemporary Indian cinema...

  • 1995: National Film Awards
    National Film Awards
    The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it is administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate of Film Festivals since 1973.Every year, a national panel...

    : Best Feature Film in English
    National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English
    The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English winners:-References:*...

    : English, August
    English, August (film)
    English, August, made in 1994, is Indian film director Dev Benegal's first feature film. This film ignited the next generation of Indian cinema and is acknowledged as a landmark in contemporary Indian cinema...


External links

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