Shyam Benegal on late actress Smita Patil: 'She was the hub of the story in Bhumika', in Pune

From the archive record

Shyam Benegal says "Well you see she was very young as you know she was still in college when she started films with me. The first film that I made was a children's film with her and when we did that she was still very young who had come from Pune. She was very enthusiastic about a lot of things but had no real ambition to be a film actress. One of the things that I remember is that she used to do a lot of very good work. When she was there on film she used to do wonderful work." Known for his pioneering body of work, Shyam Benegal is an Indian filmmaker and screenwriter, whose films had the unique quality of being aesthetically superior plus commercially viable. He was the man who successfully redefined ‘alternate cinema’ and helmed films like Ankur (1973), Nishant (1975), Manthan (1976)