Dev Benegal – English film director of ‘English, August’ fame

Dev Benegal is an English film director of Indian origin who directs both documentaries and full-length feature films. His directorial debut ‘English, August’ (1994) based on an English novel with the same name, won National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English in 1995. He was the director of the controversial film Split Wide Open released in 1999. But the movie was well received in international film festival circuit. He is the nephew of acclaimed film director Shyam Benegal. He is New York based.

Dev Benegal was born in New Delhi in 1960 into a family of artists. His father Som Benegal, younger brother of Shyam Benegal is a theatre director. He started his career in films as an assistant director to his uncle in the early 1980s and later completed diploma in Cinematography from Film School of New York University. He started his career as a documentary filmmaker in the late 1980s before he forayed to feature films. His debut film earned him international acclaim.

Dev Benegal – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. He is also a photographer.

2. B. C. Sanyal is his uncle. Sanyal’s wife is Dev’s maternal aunt. Thus costume designer, Amba Sanyal is his cousin.

3. He is also a relative of legendary Bollywood actor-director Guru Dutt.

4. He directed only three movies, though he scripted many movies. All these three films opened to critical acclaim, and were showcased at different film festivals winning many honours.

5. Anantarupam: The Infinite Forms in 1987 was his first documentary film.

6. His debut film ‘English, August’ based on Upamanyu Chatterjee’s book with the same title was also the first published work of the writer.