Shyam Benegal is an Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films Ankur, Nishant, Manthan and Bhumika he was part of 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.