Amit Bose

Amit Bose (Hindi: अमित बोस) (born February 26, 1930) is an Indian filmmaker, editor and music director, who directed all-time classics like Abhilasha (1968) and worked on movies like Madhumati (1958), Sujata (1959), Parakh (1960), Kabuliwala (1961), Bandini (1963) and Shakespeare Wallah (1965) as an editor. He worked as chief film editor for Bimal Roy and with directors from Guru Dutt to Sanjay Khan.

Childhood

Amit Bose was born in Jamshedpur/Bihar, India. His grandfather was the famous Pramatha Nath Bose, a geologist, who discovered rich iron ores, which belong today to the well known Tata Group. His mother Meera Sanyal (born Sharma) was a famous Bengali actress. After her first marriage broke, she married the singer and actor Pahadi Sanyal (aka Pahari Sanyal), who was like a father for Amit. Amit's name was given by Rabindranath Tagore, who was a friend of the Bose family in Calcutta.

First steps in filmmaking

As a child Amit was a student in Santiniketan, as a young man he took his first steps in the film industry in Bombay, in the Bombay Talkies Studios in Malad.

In 1952 Amit went to England, where he did an apprenticeship at Pinewood Studios and A.B. Pathé.

In 1955 he performed Devdas on stage.

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 he also was an apprentice assistant to Luigi Zampa and Vittorio De Sica.

Life and work

After his marriage in Calcutta in September 1957 Amit Bose settled in Bombay, where he worked as the chief film editor for Bimal Roy. He made films with him like Madhumati (1958), Sujata (1959), Parakh (1960), Usne Kaha Tha (1960), Kabuliwala (1961), Prem Patra (1962) and Bandini (1963).

In India he worked with directors from Bimal Roy to Guru Dutt, Sanjay Khan and Krishna Shah, knowing actors like Shashi Kapoor, Sunil Dutt, Nutan, Sadhana, Meena Kumari and Rehman closely.

Abroad he worked in the UK, USA, Italy, France, Germany, Cyprus, Mauritius and Lebanon, amongst many other countries. He directed and/or edited more than thirty feature films around the world, working with such prestigious directors as Vittorio De Sica, Luigi Zampa, Franco Zeffirelli, Louis Malle, James Ivory and Ismail Merchant.

For Sujata he won the "Best Editor" award in India. He also directed the children's film Five Puppets (Panch Puthliyan) for the Children's Film Society India, for which he was awarded best director by the President of India, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, in 1964.

Among many other feature films Amit Bose filmed a documentary on the Chinese invasion of India, that took place in 1961/1962.

His credits include movies like Kaajal (1965), winner of over 40 awards, Abhilasha (1968), Godaan (1963), Chori Chori (1956), At Five Past Five (1969) (a play about the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi) and Chandi Sona (1977).

Amit Bose taught film technology in the Film Institute in Pune, India. He brought up lots of unknown actors and nearly 20 editors. He helped young talents grow, by telling them all his secrets, as De Sica once upon a time told him.

Amit Bose is now retired and lives with his wife Monica in London, UK. In his past time he works at the local blind association. His daugthers Roma and Papri are settled with their families in Germany and England. He has five grandchildren.

External links

Amit Bose at the Internet Movie Database.

Amit Bose at CITWF (Complete Index to World Film).