Fridays @ KCC Library

Date: 31 January and 7 February 2025 
Time: 5:30 – 6:30 PM 
Venue: KCC Library  

KCC is proud to present a series of talks honoring Shyam Benegal – the pioneer of parallel cinema and storytelling excellence – as a part of Fridays @ KCC Library. A storyteller who brought real, raw narratives to life, Benegal showed us the heart of India through his lens.  

Let’s celebrate the art, vision, and passion he left behind, redefining Indian cinema forever! 
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31 January 2025 | An Introduction to Shyam Benegal Through His First Two Films: A talk by Subha Das Mollick 

This January we have documentary filmmaker and teacher of media and film studies Subha Das Mollick delivering an illustrated talk on Shyam Benegal’s first two films – Ankur (1974) and Manthan (1976) – both of which were critically acclaimed and won National Awards. 

About the Speaker: 
Subha Das Mollick is an independent documentary filmmaker, teacher of media studies and film studies and writer of analytical pieces on cinema and education. She has been an associate professor and Head of Department of Media Science and Film Studies at St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata and at iLEAD Institute and served as a visiting faculty in the Department of Journalism & Mass Communication at Aliah University and at Viswa Bharati University. She has designed several open courses for the SWAYAM platform and for OER4BW (Open Education Resources for a Better World). Her films have been critically acclaimed and won prestigious awards. Science, history, heritage and the intersecting zones of science and culture are her special areas of interest. Her latest film Dear Master, based on the relationship between Albert Einstein and Satyendranath Bose, premiered on the 1st of January 2024, to commemorate one hundred years of Bose Einstein Statistics. After this, the film has been screened at various institutes in India and abroad. In 2023 she conducted an open elective workshop at NID Bangalore, on the theme “Water Matters”. 

7 February 2025 | Women, Society, and Cinema: A talk on Shyam Benegal's vision by Dr Sangeeta Datta 

This talk is by writer and filmmaker Dr Sangeeta Datta on the politics and legacy of Shyam Benegal, with a special focus on her book ‘World Directors: Shyam Benegal’ published by the British Film Institute UK.  

About the Book:  
Shyam Benegal is the best known and most prolific contemporary filmmaker from India's arthouse or 'New Cinema' tradition. This work traces a career with its beginnings in political cinema and a realist aesthetic. Sangeeta Datta demonstrates how the struggles of women and the dispossessed and marginalised in Indian society have found an eloquent expression in films as diverse as Ankur, Nishant, Bhumika, Mandi, Suraj Ka Satwan Ghoda, Mammo and Zubeida. The book also traces Benegal's work with his protégés and collaborators including many of the biggest names in Indian Cinema – Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Karishma Kapoor and A.R. Rahman.  

About the Speaker:  
Sangeeta Datta is a writer, filmmaker, musician, and cultural commentator. She has written and edited several books on Indian Cinema.  She is founder and Artistic Director of the cross arts cultural organisation BaithakUK.