Modhu Bose
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Modhu Bose (1900–1969), was an Indian film director, actor, singer and screen writer during the thirties to sixties. He was born on 12 February 1900 at 63
Dharmatala Dharmatala (archaic spelling Dhurrumtollah) is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Dharmatala Street has been renamed after Lenin as Lenin Sarani but the neighbourhood up to Wellington Squar ...
Street, Kolkata. His mother was Kamala Dutt Bose, an renowned educator who founded the Kamala Girls School at
Ballygunge Ballygunge is a locality of South Kolkata, in Kolkata district, West Bengal, India. History The East India Company obtained from the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar, in 1717, the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their settlement. Of the ...
, she was the daughter of
Romesh Chunder Dutt Romesh Chunder Dutt ( bn, রমেশচন্দ্র দত্ত; 13 August 1848 – 30 November 1909) was an Indian civil servant, economic historian, writer and translator of ''Ramayana'' and ''Mahabharata''. Dutt is considered a natio ...
. His father was Pramatha Nath Bose, a geologist and palaeontologist who first discovered iron deposits in Jamshedpur and was instrumental in the setting up of Jamshedpur by writing to J. N. Tata about the rich iron ore reserves. Pramatha Nath Bose is credited with the setting up of the first soap factory in India


Education

He received his early education from Brahmacharya Balok Bidyaloy in
Bolpur Bolpur is a city and a municipality in Birbhum district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Bolpur subdivision. Bolpur municipal area includes Santiniketan, Sriniketan and Prantik. The city is known as a Cultural ...
,
Shantiniketan Santiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by his s ...
, after that some time in
Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal ...
. His singing acting talent earned him favour from
Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
and he was chosen to work a part in Tagore's Valmiki-Pratibha play alongside the writer Tagore himself. But before the play was dragged his father was transferred and he had to go Ranchi and had to leave Shantiniketan. The family moved around the India often, which brought him in contact with different classes of people and different castes of people. He later studied at
Vidyasagar College Vidyasagar College (Bengali: বিদ্যাসাগর কলেজ) is a state government-aided public college, affiliated to the University of Calcutta, located in North Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The college offers both post-gradu ...
, Calcutta.


Struggling days

He started working in a series of desk jobs for short stint. Bose came into acting under
Sisir Bhaduri Shishir Kumar Bhaduri or Sisir Kumar Bhaduri (2 October 1889 – 30 June 1959) was an Indian stage actor and theatre founder, who commonly referred to as the pioneer of modern Bengali theatre, where he was an actor, director, playwright and eve ...
. Soon after he entered film briefly as an actor at
Madan Theatres Madan Theatre Company, also known as Madan Theatres Limited or Madan Theatres in short, was a film production company founded by Jamshedji Framji Madan, one of the pioneers of Indian Cinema. History Madan, a young Parsi businessman, who had exp ...
in 1923. He also Assisted J. J. Madan on the making of ''Turki Hoor'' (1924). After an accidental meeting with Himanshu Rai, one of the pioneers of Indian cinema working in
Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known ...
for legendary German filmmaker Franz Osten, he started to assist Himanshu Rai. He later scored himself an internship with Osten for a stipend of Rs. 200 every month. He diligently handled everything from production to marketing for the making of '' Prem Sanyas'' (1925), a film adapted from the book ''
The Light of Asia ''The Light of Asia'', or ''The Great Renunciation'' (''Mahâbhinishkramana''), is a book by Sir Edwin Arnold. The first edition of the book was published in London in July 1879. In the form of a narrative poem, the book endeavours to describe ...
'' (1879) in verse, by
Edwin Arnold Sir Edwin Arnold KCIE CSI (10 June 183224 March 1904) was an English poet and journalist, who is most known for his work '' The Light of Asia''.Siddhartha Gautama Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
, who founded Buddhism by becoming the Buddha or the "Enlightened one". The film went on to be a moderate hit. Later Bose's hard work in this field was recognised and he was invited to Emelka Studio in Munich, Germany where he learnt how to use handheld Pathé cameras, film directing, film development and editing. Soon after, he had the chance to meet Alfred Hitchcock. He went to London and assisted cameraman Baron Gaetano Ventigmilia on a Hitchcock film (probably '' The Mountain Eagle'', 1926). This way he became the first filmmaker from India to work closely with a director in a major Hollywood set-up. He also worked with Karl Freund at
UFA Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital city, capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya River (Kama), Belaya and Ufa River, Ufa rivers, in the centre-n ...
(probably on Lang's '' Metropolis (film)'', 1925) and shot a Burmese film for the London Film Company, Rangoon, probably in 1927.


Personal life

He married actress Sadhana Bose. He was a uncle of director
Amit Bose Amit Bose (26 February 1930 - 13 December 2019) was an Indian filmmaker, film director and editor, who directed all-time classics like '' Abhilasha'' (1968) and, as an Editor, worked on movies like ''Madhumati'' (1958), '' Sujata'' (1959), '' P ...
. Madhu Bose died in 1969.


Awards

* Won, Certificate of Merit (Bengali Feature Film) 1956


Selected filmography

;As a director:


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bose, Modhu 1900 births 20th-century Bengalis Bengali Hindus Film directors from Kolkata 1969 deaths Vidyasagar College alumni University of Calcutta alumni Bengali film directors 20th-century Indian film directors Indian male screenwriters 20th-century Indian screenwriters