He called his first movie Ankur, an experiment with parallel cinema, a labelwhich remains stuck with Shyam Benegal and his works till date. A director who successfuly bridged the gap between art and commercial films,Benegal's latest venture Zubeida (which experimented with the lives and times ofthe Indian royalty) did not actually set the box office on fire but the veteran filmmakeris not down. Neither is he out. Benegal recently finished a documentary for the state-ownedNational Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and now wants to stay for more than a month inthe sylvan surroundings of Mussourie working on a script with Ruskin Bond and VictorBanerjee. Benegal refuses to talk about his forthcoming venture but admitted it would bedifficult for him to move away from his stereotype blend of star cast and the trademarktinge of art. During a visit to the Indian Capital, Benegal admitted Bollywood needs to move away from the masala typecast and make films which arecloser to the masses' hearts. "It's time for the dream merchants to touch base withreality," Benegal told Outlook in an interview. Excerpts: