Victor Banerjee on working with Shyam Benegal in Arohan, “He allowed me to actually become an electrician” : Bollywood News

In Shyam Benegal’s Kalyug, Victor Banerjee as the modern-day Duryodhan excelled in a cast that included, hold your breath, Shashi Kapoor (who produced the film), Rekha, Anant Nag, Raj Babbar, Supriya Pathak, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Sushma Seth, Akash Khurana, Victor Bannerjee, Reema Lagoo, A.K. Hangal and Urmila Matondkar (who played a male child).

Victor Banerjee on working with Shyam Benegal in Arohan, “He allowed me to actually become an electrician”

Shyam Babu called Kalyug his own multi-starrer. It won the Filmfare award for Best Film, Best Supporting Actress (Supriya Pathak) and Best Sound (Hitendra Ghosh).

Victor Bannerjee has some very interesting anecdotes on working with the legend in Kalyug and Arohan. “Besides being a clever filmmaker, Shyam was a great foodie and an expert on all cuisines and hence any Bengali will give him full marks and rate him a hundred percent. In Kalyug, he also helped me introduce Cognac to the Bombay film industry that only knew about Black Label. Those were the days before the invasion of single malts,” he said.

During the shooting of Arohan (1982), in which Victor played the ruthless zamindar Bibhutibhushan Ganguly, the actor actually learned how to be an electrician. “Shyam allowed me to actually become an electrician working under cinematographer Govind Nihalani,” he said. “During those outdoor location days of Arohan shot in Bengal, I was treated like a crew member (who) carried heavy lights in the hot sun of Birbhum and ate with the workers under the shadow of trees. I had already done extensive workshops on my own with the one and only greatest cinematographer India has known, Subrata Mitra. That's probably why Govind took me seriously. I had also studied camera mechanics and lenses under Kamalakar Rao in Bombay. Shyam knew I had studied seriously.”

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