Noted film director and screenwriter Kumar Shahani passed away on Sunday. He was 83. An alumni of FTII Pune, Shahani was also an educator and writer as well. 

He is considered as one of the pioneers of parallel cinema. Maya Darpan and Tarang are among the most celebrated films of Shahani. 

His movies were rooted in reality. Shahani breathed his last in Kolkata. Khayal Gatha and Kasba are his other prominent directorial ventures. 

One of the key figures of arthouse cinema fraternity, Shahani was born in Sindh (undivided India) in the year 1940. Driven by immense passion for cinema, he was heavily influenced by cinema legends such as Pasolini and Tarkovsky. 

At an early stage of his career, Shahani had the honour of assisting famous French director Robert Bresson in one of his films.

Maya Darpan had won the national award for best feature film in Hindi.