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.
Early life
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
Bose with Vittorio De Sica on the set of "Il Tetto" ("The Roof") in Rome (1954/55).
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.
On his return to India, and after his marriage in Kolkata in September 1957, Bose settled in Mumbai, where he worked as the Chief Film Editor for Bimal Roy. He edited films like Madhumati (1958, the shorter English version for entry to the American Oscars), Sujata (1959), Parakh (1960), Usne Kaha Tha (1960), Kabuliwala (1961), Prem Patra (1962) and Bandini (1963), which he left before completion, because of an opportunity to direct a Children's Film, for which he was awarded the Best Director Award in the same year.
Among many other feature films, Bose edited a documentary on the Chinese invasion of India, produced by the Films Division in Mumbai, that took place in 1961/1962.
Bose taught film technology in the Film Institute in Pune, India. He introduced and helped many unknown actors to stardom and more than 20 editors, from assistantship to full editorship. He helped young talents grow, by telling them all his secrets, as De Sica once upon a time told him.
Bose was retired and lived with his wife Monica in London, United Kingdom. In his spare time, he worked, as a volunteer, at the local Association for the Blind. His daughters Roma and Papri-Tara are settled with their families in Germany and England. He has five grandchildren, including television producer Simone Thorogood. He died during January 2020.
