Gautam Benegal, cartoonist, writer and filmmaker, passes away aged 56 due to cardiac arrest

Gautam Benegal, the National Award-winning writer, filmmaker and cartoonist, passed away at the age of 56 owing to cardiac arrest. Kaizaad Kotwal, his friend, spoke about his passing on a Facebook post: “I am in deep shock. Gautam Benegal is no more. Just yesterday we were exchanging messages. What a huge loss to all of India, especially her artistic, intellectual and progressive denizens. I still cannot process this. RIP Gautam.” Among several notable accomplishments of Benegal, his creations of the Hansaplast Boy and the Kelvinator Penguin remain the most memorable. Besides, he was also invited to write and illustrate for the iconic Bengali children’s magazine Sandesh at the young age of 16, by Satyajit Ray. He won the National Award for best animation film The Prince and the Crown of Stone in 2010. Notable people from different fraternities took to Twitter to express their condolences on his loss —