Writer, director and documentary filmmaker Shyam Benegal was one of the pioneers of New Wave of India Cinema. Starting of his career with a Gujarati language documentary Gher Betha Ganga (Ganga at the Doorstep) in 1962, he made his feature film debut with Ankur in 1973. His first four feature films, all recieving the National Film Award for Best Film, paaved way for parallel cinema movements in India, telling real stories from the heartland of the country; a dissection from the masala films that had become a norm at the time. Benegal's "Muslim Women Triology" comprising of Mammo (1995), Sardari Begum (1996) and Zubeidaa (2001) remain few of the most prominent films of his prolific filmography