Cinematically Speaking With SHONALI BOSE

Writer-director Shonali Bose is a big believer of real to reel. As one of the appointed jury members of BAFTA’s Breakthrough Initiative in India, Bose talks about honours, awards, and her deep connection with her actors

- Ananya Swaroop

Shonali Bose. Amu. The Sky Is Pink. I think to myself before I start my Zoom call with this powerhouse of a person, whose films come from a sense of deep rooted reality. I’m excited to see what Bose has to say about her appointment with BAFTA’s Breakthrough Initiative in India as a jury member. As I congratulate her, she says, “I was just honoured to be on this panel. It is something I really look upto, so it was a gift for me to be a part of this.”

Explaining what the BAFTA Breakthrough initiative is all about, Bose tells me, “See, what I found is that the talent themselves already had challenging stories, and what we are doing is furthering their careers by giving them an international platform like BAFTA. So, by BAFTA coming to India and choosing breakthrough talent from our country, the new generation of talent who have their career ahead of them will now get an international platform. Their work will be seen. They will be talked about. That is something terrific for the very deserving people from our country.”

While Bose is a proud awardee of many big accolades, she still wishes that this interesting and engaging initiative had started when she was a young and aspiring director. “I wish it had started 10 years ago, and I could have been a recipient because it is amazing. There is really no other award as exciting as the Oscars and the BAFTAs, and the Golden Globes, actually. Within these, I feel the BAFTA is even more authentic. Oscars, when I see the winners’ list, I am often like something is really off here. But with the BAFTAs and the Globes, I have always found them very solid. I really look up to BAFTA as an organisation for its credibility, and the kind of talent they recognise,” she adds.