Amit Bose
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Amit Bose | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 26 February 1930 |
| Died | 13 December 2019 (aged 89) |
| Alma mater | Visva-Bharati University |
| Occupation | filmmaker |
| Spouse | Monica |
| Mother | Meera Devi |
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), Parakh (1960), Usne Kaha Tha (1960), Kabuliwala (1961), Prem Patra (1962), Bandini (1963) and Shakespeare Wallah (1965). He worked as Chief Film Editor for Bimal Roy and with several other directors including Sanjay Khan.
Bose was born in Jamshedpur/Bihar, India. His grandfather was the geologist Pramatha Nath Bose, who discovered rich iron ores, that made the Empire of J.R.D. Tata possible, which today belong to the Tata Group. Eminent economic historian and civil servant Romesh Chunder Dutt was his great grandfather. Dutt's daughter Kamala Dutt Bose, a renowned educator who founded the "Kamala Girls School" at Ballygunge was married to Pramatha Nath Bose and was his grandmother. His mother Meera Devi (born Sharma) was a Bengali actress. After her first marriage ended in divorce, she married the classical singer and actor Pahari Sanyal), who was like a father to Bose. Amit's name was given by Rabindranath Tagore, who was a cousin of Bose's mother in Kolkata.
First steps in filmmaking
As a child Bose was a student in Rabindranath Tagore's open-air institution Visva Bharati in Bolpur, Santiniketan. As a young man he took his first steps in the film industry in 1946 in Kolkata. He worked as an assistant to the film director Nimai Ghosh during the making of Chinna Mul ("Broken Branch" - a movie reflecting the up-rooting of the nation during the Great Famine). This film won several awards, both in India and abroad. It is still hailed as one of the great classics of Indian Cinema. Bose then went to Mumbai and worked as an assistant to the Director Phani Majumdar at Bombay Talkies Studios in Malad, in 1947. He also appeared in a bit-part in Majumdar's film Tamasha, which starred the Great Indian Screen Heroine of all time, Meena Kumari.
In 1952, Bose went to England, where he did an apprenticeship at Pinewood Studios and A.B. Pathé.
In 1953 he directed and performed in Sharat Chandra Chatterji's classic novel, Devdas, as Devdas on stage (in English, translated by Monica Sen).
During the next few years he did his diploma in film direction, screenplay writing and film editing at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, Italy. During that period in Rome he also was an apprentice assistant to Luigi Zampa (during the making of Ragazze d'oggi / "Girls of Today", 1955), Vittorio De Sica (Stazione Termini / "Terminal Station", 1953 & Il Tetto / "The Roof", 1956) and Mario Soldati (Guerra e Pace / "War And Peace", 1956).
