Gautam Benegal, designer, writer and filmmaker, dies at the age of 56 from cardiac arrest-Living News, Firstpost

Gautam Benegal. Facebook / richa.jha.796

Gautam Benegal, the national award-winning writer, filmmaker and designer, has died at the age of 56 from cardiac arrest.

Kaizaad Kotwal, his friend, mentioned his death on a Facebook post: “I’m in shock. Gautam Benegal is no more. Just yesterday we exchanged messages. What a huge loss for all of India, especially for its artistic, intellectual and progressive inhabitants. I still cannot process this. RIP Gautam.

Among several notable achievements of the Benegal, his creations of the Hansaplast Boy and the Kelvinator Penguin remain the most memorable. In addition, he has also been invited to write and illustrate for the iconic Bengali children’s magazine. Sandesh at the young age of 16, by Satyajit Ray. It won the national award for best animated film The prince and the stone crown in 2010.

Notable people from different fraternities took to Twitter to express their condolences for his loss –

And now Gautam Benegal is also gone. Meet that friend you were planning to catch up with, call that old friend you were thinking about, but never had time to chat with …..
Life is just too short and unpredictable to delay telling people you care.

– Joy Bhattacharjya (@joybhattacharj) July 16, 2021

We have lost two great souls today: the Danish photo-journalist Siddiqui and the filmmaker, painter, designer Gautam Benegal. A huge loss for India’s democratic voice. My tribute to these courageous and creative fighters for truth, justice and humanity. pic.twitter.com/I7CNIq8Tj5

– Dipankar (@Dipankar_cpiml) July 16, 2021

What another weird day is it again – actor Surekha Sikri is no more; Top Indian photojournalist Siddiqui dies in the crosshairs. Now I hear (on Facebook) about writer-artist Gautam Benegal, tell me that’s not true. #TO TEAR APART – Mayank Shekhar शेखर (@ mayankw14) July 16, 2021