Shonali Bose (born 3 June 1965) is an Indian film director, writer and film producer. Having made her feature film debut in 2005, she has since won such accolades as a

National Film Award The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

, a Bridgestone Narrative Award, and a Sundance Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award. Bose earned her breakthrough with her first feature film, the 2005 biographical drama '' Amu'', which was based on her own novel of the same name. The film which chronicles the attacks on Sikhs in Delhi in 1984, garnered critical acclaim and the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English. Bose then worked as the assistant director for the 2012 war film ''

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

'', which she also co-wrote. Bose's status as a filmmaker grew following the critical and commercial success of the dramas '' Margarita with a Straw'' (2015) and '' The Sky Is Pink'' (2019). Inspired from the life of Malini Chib—her cousin and a disability rights activist, the former earned Bose a Sundance Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award and a NETPAC Award. Bose is also an active philanthropist and supports various charitable organisations. She was married to filmmaker Bedabrata Pain, but the couple separated following the death of their son.

Early life

Shonali Bose was born on 3 June 1965 in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, and spent most of her young adult life in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

and

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. She earned her

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

and master's degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, New York. She has been an activist since her time at

Miranda House Miranda House is a constituent college for women at the University of Delhi in India. Established in 1948, it is one of the top ranked colleges of the country and ranked number 1 for consecutively seven years (as of 2023). History Miranda ...

in Delhi University. Bose was also involved in theatre as an actor throughout school and college. Bose did not originally plan to be involved in film, however she saw it as a better outlet for activism after realizing how far removed her Ph.D. studies were from activism. On her film work she says, "Film is the means with which I want to communicate ideas about social and political change."

Career

Early career and breakthrough with ''Amu'' (1999-2010)

Bose worked as an organizer for the National Lawyers Guild for about a year. She directed live community television in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

before joining the MFA Directing Program at

UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT), is one of the 12 schools within the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) located in Los Angeles, California. Its creation was groundbreaking in that it was the first time a leadi ...

. Early in her career, Bose directed such short films as ''The Gendarme Is Here'' and ''Undocumented'', and the feature-length documentary ''Lifting the Veil''; the productions were screened at numerous film festivals. Bose made her feature film debut with the 2005 drama '' Amu''; she had also written the production's screenplay. The film released in India in January to critical acclaim and positive response from the audience. ''Amu'' was screened at international film festivals in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Bose won several national and international awards for the film, including the

FIPRESCI The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for ''Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique'') is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the wor ...

Critics Award, the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English and the

Gollapudi Srinivas Award Gollapudi Srinivas Award is a national-level private award given to a first-time director in Indian Cinema every year. It is given out in the memory of Gollapudi Srinivas (3 March 1966 – 12 August 1992). He was the youngest son of veteran Telugu ...

for Best Debut Director. Bose wrote the novel ''Amu'', which based on the screenplay which released simultaneously with the film.

Continued critical success (2010- present)

Bose co-wrote the Bedabrata Pain directed film

, a period drama that chronicles the 1930

Chittagong armoury raid The Chittagong Uprising termed by the British as Chittagong Armoury Raid, was an attempt on 18 April 1930 to raid the armoury of police and auxiliary forces from the Chittagong armoury of Bengal Province in British India (now in Bangladesh) ...

. Her 2014 production, '' Margarita, with a Straw'', starring

Kalki Koechlin Kalki Koechlin (; born 10 January 1984) is a French actress and writer who works in films and stage. Known for her unconventional body of work, particularly in Hindi films, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a National Film ...

as a girl with cerebral palsy, premiered at

2014 Toronto International Film Festival The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin (director), David Dobkin's film ''The Judge (2014 film), The Judg ...

to critical acclaim. The film won the NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film at the event. She had begun working on the script a year after the death of her son; the film's initial draft won the Sundance Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award, at the

2012 Sundance Film Festival The 2012 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 until January 29, 2012 in Park City, Utah. 64 short films were selected for the festival from 7,675 submissions, including 27 international shorts from 3,592 submissions. Non-competitio ...

. Bose was inspired to make the film by her real life experiences of studying in New York, her relationship with her cousin Malini Chib who has cerebral palsy, and her and Chib's sexuality as queer and disabled people respectively. The film was originally rejected by the censor board in India, but won an appeal and was released shortly after the ban on homosexuality in India was lifted. In 2019, Bose has written and directed '' The Sky Is Pink'', a film based on the motivational speaker

Aisha Chaudhary Aisha Chaudhary (27 March 1996 24 January 2015) was an Indian author and motivational speaker. She is the author of the book ''My Little Epiphanies'', published one day before her death. The 2019 Hindi film ''The Sky Is Pink'' is based on her ...

, starring

Priyanka Chopra Priyanka Chopra Jonas (; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress and producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is India's highest-paid actress and has received numerous accolades, including two National Film Awards and fiv ...

Farhan Akhtar Farhan Akhtar (born 9 January 1974) is an Indian actor, filmmaker and singer who works in Hindi films. Born to screenwriters Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, he established the production company Excel Entertainment, along with Ritesh Sidhwa ...

and

Zaira Wasim Zaira Wasim (born 23 October 2000) is an Indian former actress who worked in Hindi films. The recipient of numerous accolades, including a Filmfare Award and a National Film Award, Wasim was honoured with the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Pur ...

. The film was theatrically released on 11 October 2019 and was critically acclaimed. She directed the short ''Raat Rani'', featuring

Fatima Sana Shaikh Fatima Sana Shaikh (born 11 January 1992) is an Indian actress, who works in Hindi films. Shaikh appeared as a child artist in such films as ''Chachi 420'' (1997) and ''One 2 Ka 4'' (2001). In 2016, she portrayed wrestler Geeta Phogat in the top ...

, for the 2022 anthology '' Modern Love: Mumbai''.

Upcoming project

Bose has committed to write the pilot episode for an untitled television series based on

Diksha Basu Diksha Basu is an American writer and actress. She is the author of the novel ''The Windfall'' which is under adaptation for a television series by Shonali Bose. Biography Diksha Basu was born in Delhi, to the sociologist Alaka Malwade Basu ...

's novel ''The Windfall''. She is currently shooting for the Amazon Original, ''The Notorious Girls of Miranda House'', produced by Pritish Nandy Communications.

Personal life

She was married to Bedabrata Pain but is now separated. The couple's son Ishan Bose-Pain died on 13 September 2010 at age 16. Bose identifies as

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

Filmography

Awards

References

External links

Official Webpage and Bio of Shonali Bose
*
Images Film Festival for Women
Zimbabwe {{DEFAULTSORT:Bose, Shonali 1974 births Living people 20th-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers Indian women film directors Indian women film producers Indian women screenwriters Indian LGBTQ film directors LGBTQ film producers Indian LGBTQ screenwriters Indian bisexual women Bisexual screenwriters Bisexual women writers Bengali film directors Film directors from Kolkata Film producers from Kolkata Screenwriters from Kolkata Businesswomen from West Bengal Women writers from West Bengal Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni UCLA Film School alumni Miranda House alumni