What profession does Gus Van Sant and Shyam Benegal have in common?
Shyam Benegal Shyam Benegal (born 14 December 1934) is an Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films "Ankur" (1973), "Nishant" (1975), "Manthan" (1976) and "" (1977) he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the "middle cinema" in India. He has expressed dislike of the term, preferring his work to be called New or Alternate cinema. Benegal was awarded the Padma Shri in 1976 and the Padma Bhushan in 1991. On 8 August 2007, Benegal was awarded the highest award in Indian cinema for lifetime achievement, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2005. He has won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi seven times.
Mohanlal filmography []Mohanlal] is an Indian actor, producer, and singer who has starred in both blockbuster and art house films for independent filmmakers. During his career, he has appeared in more than 340 feature films, primarily in Malayalam cinema but also in other languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada. In 1978, when he was 18, he started acting with a minor comedic role in the unreleased film "Thiranottam", before making screen debut in 1980 as antagonist in the romance film "Manjil Virinja Pookkal". His portrayal of Narendran, a sadistic husband, received recognition and the film developed a cult status in Malayalam cinema. Subsequently, Mohanlal was cast as the antagonist in many films. His first positive role was in "Padayottam" (1982), the first 70 mm film in Malayalam. In 1984 he starred in "Poochakkoru Mookkuthi", a comedy film whose success triggered a trend and popularised the genre in the 1980s. In an early critically acclaimed performance, Mohanlal played an antihero in the I. V. Sasi-directed thriller "Uyarangalil" (1984). In the same year, he co-founded Casino Films, a motion picture production company which later produced his popular comedies "Gandhinagar 2nd Street" (1986) and "Nadodikkattu" (1987).