Hitendra Ghosh:No other filmmaker was at par with Shyam Benegal – Exclusive

If marriages are made in heaven, creative partnerships in the film world are forged in film schools. Aspiring filmmakers and technicians study together, spend time exchanging ideas and their bonding results in future cinema experiments and projects that go on to become cinema classics. One such partnership was forged in FTII, where a young Hitendra Ghosh was learning the ropes of filmmaking under his tutor Shyam Benegal. This was the early ’70s, Shyam Benegal had already spent a considerable time in the advertising circuit and made some compelling documentaries. So Benegal reviewed a 30-odd minute diploma film made by Hitendra Ghosh and was convinced that Ghosh would be the perfect man to capture the sound of his upcoming film Nishant. And then over a period of 50 years, Hitendra Ghosh was the Sound Designer on every Shyam Benegal film, right up until his last one – Mujib: The Making Of A Nation (2023). 

Speaking to Filmfare about this piece of history between his and Shyam Benegal’s early career, Ghosh says, “Shyam babu was my examiner at FTII. He had already made Ankur, but he was known more for his documentaries back then. And since documentaries are known for their authentic portrayal of reality, that aspect rubbed off on Shyam’s cinematic style too. His films had to be as authentic as reality. Perhaps he saw that streak in my diploma film and he was convinced that a rank newcomer like me should be the Sound Designer on his second feature film. I was shocked. I was a nobody, I did not even have a clue about Bombay or the Bombay film industry. But straight out of the FTII in Pune, I found myself working as the Sound Designer on Shyam Benegal’s Nishant.”

Shyam Benegal had invested all his faith in a newcomer film student. It was decision that was bothering a young Hitendra Ghosh far more than it was the already established filmmaker, Benegal. Fifty years on, Ghosh is able to look back at that decision of Shyam Benegal and explain why it was so. He says, “Shyam babu had the knack of trusting the people he would work with. He was the director on a film and unlike most other filmmakers, he would not meddle in other people’s jobs. Most directors will tell their actors, how to act, how to perform, how to emote or how to deliver the dialogue. Shyam on the other hand would hand the script to his actors and tell them to do their job. If Naseeruddin Shah came up with the idea that he will say 2 lines of dialogue standing up, then go and sit in a chair and say the next 2 lines of dialogue sitting down, Shyam would say, ‘sure, let’s do it that way’. Govind Nihalani, who shot most of Shyam’s earlier films had complete freedom to do what he wanted with the camera. Shyam ji would not ask him how he wants to take the shot. In contrast, I have seen modern filmmakers ask the cinematographer to step away from the camera as they start operating it for key shots. Shyam would never do that.”

Shyam Benegal gave Hitendra Ghosh the same freedom while recording the film’s sounds. In fact, Hitendra was at liberty to call for retakes if the sound recording wasn’t up to the mark. He explains in detail, “Shyam babu just left the entire sound of the film to me. His only expectation was that we record everything on location. He did not believe in dubbing and fixing the sound later on in the studio. Everything that you heard in a Shyam Benegal movie was recorded live on set or on location. We are talking about the ’70s and ’80s. Every other filmmaker in the country was relying on actors dubbing their dialogues after the shoot in the studio, but Shyam would give his actors just one brief. ‘There will be no dubbing later on. Your dialogues will be recorded live, as you perform’.” It was akin to acting in theatre in front of a live audience. For the actors on a Shyam Benegal movie set, failure or fumbling was simply not an option. Ghosh believes, that is exactly why Shabana Azmi, Anant Nag, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil and even Shashi Kapoor gave their life’s best performances in Shyam Benegal movies. He explains, “A lot of filmmakers tell the actors during shoot, ‘Arre tension mat lo, hum woh dialogue dubbing mein sambhal lenge’. Shyam would never give that chance to his actors. They had to speak their final dialogues on set and I would have to record all their voices with my single microphone. Hollywood had the technology to shoot sync sound during the ’70s, but we didn’t have those resources. So the actors had to be focussed and give it their best on set. No Shyam Benegal film ever went into the dubbing stage.”

Interestingly, one of India’s first official sync sound films, Zubeidaa (2001) was also a Shyam Benegal movie. But Hitendra Ghosh and Shyam Benegal had already been using the sync sound technique from 30 years ago. Ghosh explains how the magic unfolded on the sets of Junoon (1979), “In one of the scenes Naseeruddin Shah has an emotional outburst and he is raiding a shelf full of pigeons, throwing them out. We had one mic and during his animated antics, Naseer hit the microphone 3-4 times. It created a loud ‘thak’ sound in the recording. But Naseer’s performance, the outrage he poured out was perfect. As always, Shyam came to me to ask if the sound was okay. I told him that Naseer’s hits on the microphone would be a problem, but I will take care of it. I could have asked for a retake, but I knew the intensity of Naseer’s performance would not be the same, so we kept the original shot.” There was another occasion where Hitendra was able to exercise his veto, and it created a challenge for Naseeruddin Shah. Ghosh elaborates, “On another day during the Junoon shoot, I went up to Naseer and told him that he had a shot where he was walking and had to say a dialogue. I told him to walk with thuds so that the mic would pick up the sound of his walking. Naseer instantly retorted, ‘Arre yaar Ghosh. Main scene mein dialogue bolu ya zor zor se pair patak ke chalu?’. To which, I politely told Naseer that it was the requirement of the scene and he again retorted, ‘Tum log kya kya karate ho hum actors se…’.” Needless to say, on a Shyam Benegal set, every individual was trusted to do their job without someone influencing them. Ghosh believes that’s why Shyam Benegal’s feature films had the same realistic impact as documentaries. Ghosh adds, “Nothing in a Shyam Benegal movie was staged. Everything was real and authentic.”

Hitendra, over a career spanning 5 decades has worked on more than 3000 projects with more than 2000 filmmakers. His filmography has more than 300+ feature film entries and he has worked with stalwarts like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha, Subhash Ghai, Rakesh Roshan and more. But he still considers Shyam Benegal to be the best of the lot. Ghosh explains, “There’s no other filmmaker at par with Shyam Benegal in the world. In fact, I can tell you the basic difference between a Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal. Satyajit Ray would plan every detail, every shot, every part of his shoot a day before. He would plan for the most basic camera movements as well. Shyam Benegal on the other hand would tell his cast and crew, ‘Let’s go to the location tomorrow and see what we need to do’. Shyam babu would decide his approach, his direction and his filmmaking technique depending on the day and the location. That’s why he was able to give so much freedom to everyone on set. He would let his crew take care of anything and everything that was needed to create the shot.”

In fact, such was the freedom on Shyam Benegal’s sets that he would listen to his team members for critical decisions like casting, too. Ghosh elaborates how he was able to convince Benegal into casting Smita Patil for Nishant and Nafisa Ali for Junoon. Ghosh reveals, “For Nishant, Shyam had already finalised Shabana Azmi, but we were on the lookout for other actresses. We needed an attractive face and our options were limited. One day, I was at the Mumbai Doordarshan office and I spotted Smita reading the news. I found her complexion and features to be very attractive. When I met, Shyam later in the day, I told him he must meet this girl called Smita Patil, who is a newsreader with Doordarshan. I had already spoken to Smita, who was not confident about a stint in the movies, but eventually she showed up to meet Shyam and the rest is history.” Ghosh had a similar contribution during the pre-production phase of Junoon, a film that was produced by Shashi Kapoor. He recalls, “Shyam and his team had finalised a girl to feature in Junoon, opposite Shashi Kapoor. She was the daughter of India’s then ambassador to Japan. She was a short girl, barely 5-feet tall and she was good-looking. But I found a problem with her casting. Here, we had the handsome Shashi Kapoor, almost six-feet tall, and his character had to fall in love with this young girl. She had to be physically attractive and captivating. So I walked upto Shyam and told him that casting the Ambassador’s daughter was not a good idea. Shyam explained that it was a requirement of the script. Shashi’s character was 35-odd years old and he had to fall in love with a 17-year-old girl. That’s why they cast a short girl who would look young enough on screen. But I was convinced that a man, of Shashi Kapoor’s age and his personality, would need physical attraction. I had met Nafisa Ali, who was then a National swimming champion as well. She was tall and so good looking that men used to turn around to catch a glimpse of her. I suggested Shyam meet Nafisa once before shooting Junoon. When Nafisa met Shyam, he was able to understand my point of view and after some auditions, Nafisa was finalised for the role of Ruth in Junoon.”

With Shyam Benegal’s passing away, his oldest collaborator and good friend, Ghosh is feeling the ennui. He confesses, “I had just met Shyam on his 90th birthday on December 14. He looked full of life and happy. We met Shabana and Naseer, too. But now he’s gone. I stuck by him from Nishant to Mujib. There were so many people who worked with him, but I had the good fortune of working alongside him for my entire career and his as well. It’s sad to see him go. It’s sad to see all my good friends go. I first lost Mukul S Anand, then Tapan Sinha and now Shyam.”

Sound Designer Hitendra Ghosh worked with Shyam Benegal for over 50 years. Continue reading …Read More