Shonali Bose is an Indian film director. She is known for the feature film Amu which bagged her seven national and international awards including National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English. She is also known for her award winning short films The Gendarme is Here and Undocumented. All these movies earned her world wide fame. She also works as a screenwriter and producer.
Early Life of Shonali Bose
She was born on June 3, 1965 in the Indian state of Kolkata. Shonali hails from Kolkata but was brought up in Mumbai and Delhi. She studied in Miranda House College and received her Bachelors of Arts degree from Delhi University and Masters Degree in Political Science from Columbia University, New York. Shonali has been an activist since her college days and was involved in theater as an actor throughout school and college.
Career of Shonali Bose
Shonali was associated with National Lawyers Guild where she worked as an organizer. She was also in Manhattan where her work was to direct live community television. She then did a MFA Directing Program at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.
She made short narrative films like ‘The Gendarme is Here’ in 1993 and ‘Undocumented’ in 1995. Both these movies were screened in festivals and other venues throughout the world. In 1997 she made a documentary titled ‘Lifting The Veil’, which investigated the early effects of globalization on India. It brought her tremendous critical acclaim and an award.
Shonali made her first feature film ‘Amu’ in the year 2005 which explores the suppressed history of the genocidal attacks on Sikhs in Delhi in 1984. She was the producer, director and also the writer of the film. It starred actors like Konkona Sen Sharma, Brinda Karat, and Ankur Khanna. It received critical acclaim and went on to premier at the Berlin and Toronto Film Festivals amongst many other international festivals. Amu earned her seven national and international awards. She has also written the book Amu based on the screenplay which released simultaneously with the film, making her the first Indian to do so.
She made her second film ‘Chittagong’ in the year 2012 which is about the Chittagong Armoury raid of 1930. She was the co-producer, co-writer and assistant director of the film. It was directed by her former husband Bedabrata Pain and starred Manoj Bajpai as Masterda Surya Sen.
Her next venture was ‘Margarita, with a Straw’ starring Kalki Koechlin, as a girl with cerebral palsy. She was the writer, director and producer of the film. It was premiered at 2014 Toronto Film Festival. The script won the Best Script award at the Sundance Festival Writer’s lab.
Personal Life of Shonali Bose
Shonali had tied the knot with Bedabrata Pain but the couple is now separated.
Achievements of Shonali Bose
Her first feature film ‘Amu’ bagged her 7 national and international awards including the FIPRESCI Critics Award, National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English and Gollapudi Srinivas Award for best first-time director.
Her ‘Margarita, with a Straw’ won the Best Script award at the Sundance Festival Writer’s lab.
(Last Updated on : 21-07-2015)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recently Updated Articles in Indian Movies
|
|
|
• | Bhanu Athaiya Bhanu Athaiya was one of the most eminent costume designers of India. She was the first Indian to win an academy awards and also the only female member of the Bombay Progressive Artists` Group.
| | • | Tarun Majumdar Tarun Majumdar was a notable Bengali film director and has recreated classics written by some of the best writers. He was an iconic filmmaker who deftly blended aesthetics of art films with the mainstream cinema to make movies for the masses.
| | • | Soumitra Chatterjee Soumitra Chatterjee is one of the most talented and acknowledged one from Bengal. Bengali film Industry became enriched after getting one actor like him. Through his career spanning across many decades, Soumitra Chatterjee has worked with legendary film makers like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha, Ajoy Kar, and many more.
| | • | Bappi Lahiri Bappi Lahiri was an Indian singer, music composer, dancer, disco musician, actor and record producer. He is known as the ‘Disco King’ because he popularized the use of synthesized disco music in Indian cinema with a traditional blend of Indian flavor. He has also composed songs in South Indian movies.
| | • | Sandhya Mukhopadhyay Sandhya Mukhopadhyay is a legendary singer. She made her career in Bengali and Hindi music.
| | |
|
|
|
|