Journalist Dinesh Kamath talks about Shyam Benegal and Madhur Bhandarkar

There are lots of similarities between the films made by Shyam Benegal and the works of Madhur Bhandarkar. If you compare Shyam Benegal's 'Kalyug' and Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Corporate' you'll find lots of similarities in the two. 'Kalyug' dwelt on the conflict between the two parties who pursued the same business. 'Corporate' too dwelt on similar theme. Both Shyam and Madhur believe that a film should consist of only the essentials and there should not be even a single unnecessary element. Both give prominent importance to editing aspect. You'll find every film of theirs perfectly edited. Shyam was called an off-beat filmmaker. But it was he who created the audiences who fell in love with his type of cinema. This benefited Madhur a lot. When he came into picture, his off-beat films already had a audience which Shyam had created. That's the reason why Madhur began to be called an offbeat-cum-commercial filmmaker. Both Shyam and Madhur believe in realistic cinema. They hate fantasy and unrealistic fiction. I think that they share the common love for realistic cinema because both of them are Saraswats. Madhur should be given the credit for having carried on the good work that was being done by Shyam in the past. He not only continued the good work but also improvised on Shyam's style of making film. That's the reason why even the top class heroines or filmstars who normally work in commercial films feel extremely privileged when they get the opportunity to work with Madhur. Madhur got that knack of giving tremendous boost to the careers of the heroines he chooses for his film. Top filmstars like Tabu, Raveena Tandon, Bipasha Basu and Priyanka Chopra are still remembered for their magnificent performances in Madhur's masterpieces like Chandni Bar, Satta, Corporate and Fashion respectively. Now it is Kareena Kapoor who is all set to work in Madhur's film which is based on the life of a film heroine. Kareena is the number one heroine of Bollywood today but yet she finds it a great privilege to be working with Madhur. That prove how terrific and powerful filmmaker is Madhur Bhandarkar. I am looking forward to watching more and more of his masterpieces. Bye!