Event Details

Documentary Film Screening

An NCPA Presentation in collaboration with Cinema Collective

Supported by Bajaj Beyond

The Reality Check film series promotes and encourages documentary filmmakers in India whose work reflects life and culture in the country today in a thoughtful blend of creativity and integrity.

The Master: Shyam Benegal
English Film (90 mins)

A feature-length documentary about one of India’s foremost pathbreaking filmmakers who, as a truant schoolboy, ran off to the cinema to watch Hollywood and Soviet cinema. The film charts his emergence from advertising to become a leading filmmaker of the Indian New Wave of the 1970s with hard-edged classics like Ankur, Nishant, Manthan and Bhumika through to a trilogy on Muslim women: Mammo, Sardari Begum and Zubeidaa and the hit comedy, Welcome to Sajjanpur, TV series, as well as his documentary on Satyajit Ray.

The film avoids the usual platitudes while exploring the man and filmmaker with a rich mix of insights by many celebrated film professionals—actors, technicians and commentators— including Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Karisma Kapoor, Manoj Bajpayee, Om Puri, Surekha Sikri, Govind Nihalani and eminent artist Sudhir Patwardhan. The voice-over has been provided by Naseeruddin Shah.

The documentary, written and directed by film critic Khalid Mohamed, is designed as a personal homage to the auteur director, for whom he wrote the stories and screenplays of the Muslim women trilogy.

Director, Producer & Script: Khalid Mohamed
DOP & Assistant Director: Karan Desai
Narrator: Naseeruddin Shah
Sound Design: Baylon Fonseca
Editors: Udaiveer Singh Rathore, Meghna Aschit, Pravin Angre

The film screening will be followed by a discussion.
Admission on a first-come-first-served basis. NCPA Members will get preferential seating till 6.20 pm.