Back on the scene with the Anushka Sharma-backed Bulbbul, Rahul Bose on greenlighting director Dutt's thriller
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; June 28, 2020)

Following his performance in Dil Dhadakne Do (2015) and Vishwaroopam II (2018), and a directorial stint with Poorna (2017), Rahul Bose is back with the Netflix film, Bulbbul. The period horror also marks his digital debut. "I am also in the middle of two web series, but at this juncture, I can't talk about them. So, that makes Bulbbul my first web outing," says Bose.

He admits that the web platform is the go-to medium in the current scenario, but doesn't find a compulsive need to compare it with a theatrical screening. He is optimistic that post the pandemic, "movies, theatre, and television will flourish again."

In his three-decade long career, Bose has worked with a dozen debutante directors, making Bulbbul director Anvita Dutt yet another addition to that list. "What I look for in a director is vision and passion; there has to be a real need to tell the story. Anvita is a new voice. That's unusual because most directors find their calling several years into their profession. No one can guess that Bulbbul is a debutant's work." And while this is their first collaboration as director-actor, Bose had previously associated with Anvita on Poorna. "She had written a song for the film, but we did not use it."

When his film commitments don't occupy his attention, he keeps himself busy by managing the two NGOs that he has been running for 15 years—one for children's education and the other for child sexual abuse survivors. "It's a part of my life, I don't like to talk much about it. It's between me and the kids," says Bose who is also penning his next directorial venture, which may roll next year.

Rahul Bose on the way forward as he spearheads a multi-faceted campaign to tackle rise of domestic violence cases amid lockdown
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; May 3, 2020)

Rahul Bose has been in association with Akshara Centre, an NGO that works towards women empowerment, to develop a campaign against domestic violence for over a decade. The actor believes the video—titled #LockdownOnDomesticViolence and featuring a string of celebrities, including Karan Johar, Sachin Tendulkar, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma —was the need of the hour as cases of domestic violence have witnessed a spike amid the lockdown.

"The video had to be in three languages—Marathi, because the majority of our state understands the language, and Hindi, for the migrant population in the state. The English campaign has been noticed by people the world over," says Bose.

The state government has launched several numbers, including the uniform state helpline number 100, where women can register their complaints. One can probably determine the endeavour's success by studying if there has been a drop in the cases reported since the video released. However, he disagrees, "We have to consider the other possibility that domestic violence is continuing, and yet, women can't report it."

Ever since the release of Kabir Singh in 2019, and consequently, Thappad earlier this year, there has been a larger discussion about representation of casual violence on screen. The actor, however, believes movies have minimal effect on social behaviour. "There's little co-relation between the two factors. Films don't need to carry a positive message, but they shouldn't carry a negative one, that does disservice. A ground-up campaign, in which the same message is passed on consistently, film on film, year on year, can change behaviour more than a movie can."

To make his case, he cites how the state of California launched a multi-media campaign against tobacco consumption, leading to a 12 per cent drop in sales after 20 years. "So, looking at the misogyny and status of women in India, we need a ground campaign over decades to attain gender justice. Then the Delhi Nirbhaya gangrape happened, there was a significant push forward, but we need to be at it for decades."

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 29, 2019)

Jhankaar Beats started out as a script writing exercise for Sujoy Ghosh. A self-taught writer-director, he decided one day to write a film. The problem was he had no idea what story he wanted to tell. After much brainstorming he decided it would be about people, life and music.

“As a Bengali I was hooked on music and I am a RD Burman fan. He was a genius composer and I liked him as a singer too. I still remember the craze his 'Mehbooba Mehbooba' had become after Sholay released. It was playing all over, and so was another very different composition, 'Mere Naina Sawan Bhado', from the reincarnation drama, Mehbooba, sung to perfection by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar. But his repertoire is too vast, you can’t handle it in one film, maybe a few hundreds. So, I thought, why not speak about the influence of his music on different people at different points in their lives... From a couple waiting to fall in love to another expecting a second baby and a third who are on the verge of divorce,” Sujoy reminisces about his directorial debut which released on June 20, 2003, seven days before Pancham’s sixty-fourth birth anniversary.

Point out to him that 16 years later, the film still brings a smile on people’s faces and he quips, “That’s the only place I feel I have succeeded and it’s thanks to the magic of R D Burman’s music, it gives you a warm, happy feeling. His songs can be played in any situation, from a competition to the church and an evening with the wife, it’s almost like therapy for believers like me.”

The title is an instant hook and Sujoy flashbacks to the age of remixes when music companies would add some ‘jhatak’ instrumentation to original songs to make them popular with the aam janta. “I remember a sentimental Mukesh-Asha Bhosle duet, 'Hum Donon Milke Kagaz Pe Dil Ke' (Tumahri Kasam), to which they had added some jhankaar beats and given it a totally different flavour, one of my favourites. That’s how the title popped up in my mind,” he reveals.

The film’s ensemble cast was also a surprise for everyone but Sujoy. Almost two decades later, he points out that for Deep he needed a nice guy with a pleasant face since he was going to sing all the songs and Sanjay Suri fitted the bill. “As his better half, Shanti, I wanted someone who was a wife, daughter, mother, friend all rolled in one, someone who for us Bengalis is the eponymous boudi (sister-in-law) who has the keys of the house tied on her pallu and whose 'no' is law even for someone like Rahul Bose’s hot-headed Rishi. Juhi Chawla was that person as not only was she apt for the character but was also a star. I have to thank her then manager K S Sanjay who set up a meeting with her and she kindly agreed to do the film if I agreed to cut out one scene,” he recounts. Which one, you prod. “Of a gigantic, fluorescent condom dancing,” he confides with a twinkle, pointing out that while many remember Vidya Balan from Kahaani, it was Juhi who was his first ‘pregnant’ heroine. “I’m obsessed with pregnancy, a woman looks so beautiful when she is on her way to becoming a mother,” he says dreamily.

He found his young Cupid-struck couple, Neel and Nicki, in the tall, lanky, somewhat awkward Shayan Munshi and Rinke Khanna who was recommended by sister Twinkle. And in Rahul Bose he had his perfect Rishi. “Rahul seems like this intense, serious guy, but he has a very Brit sense of humour and cracks jokes when you least expect it. I remember when I took the script to him, he told me that he would not lip sync to the songs. But then he did, that’s Rahul,” Sujoy says fondly.

However, before he could roll with Jhankaar Beats, the initial journey with his first film script was disheartening. For three years he approached every filmmaker and nobody could understand what he was trying to say through a story where “nothing really happens”. Sujoy admits that he was also handicapped by the fact that since this being a first for him, he did not know how to give a narration. Then, just when he was beginning to despair he found a producer with a vision in Pritish Nandy who not only greenlit his slice-of-life script, but also surprised him by suggesting that he direct the film too. “Having now turned producer myself, I know just how difficult it was for him to take this bold step. It takes just one person to see your vision and believe in your dream for a Jhankaar Beats to happen,” Sujoy signs off from London.

The actor-filmmaker, known for his meaningful cinema and sharp performances, has decided to approach cinema differently, thanks to his experience with Poorna
Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; January 3, 2019)

As 2019 has begun to unfold, Rahul Bose has his eyes set on a couple of things — his upcoming films as both an actor and director. And before all of that, he’s also looking forward to releasing Poorna: Courage Has No Limit in China. “That’s where the profits will come in from,” he says. He insists that while the experience of making and releasing his second directorial project has been satisfactory, he wasn’t quite prepared for the fact that small towns in India didn’t have too many footfalls. He says, “I thought India would react very well to a film like Poorna and what eventually happened gave me a jolt that I wasn’t absolutely prepared for. I thought her story would move people. She’s a tribal kid, from a disadvantaged background and a girl child who triumphed against all odds. She held the national flag aloft Mount Everest. I mean it had everything to attract people and the rude shock was that the small town folks didn’t lap it up. So, moving forward, nothing changes my content. I will make the kind of films I believe in, but they need to have a recognizable face headlining the cast. I’ve realised India doesn’t get interested in a mainstream film without a face. We’ve made some fantastic sports films off late, but they’re costly because of the actor’s heft. I won’t direct another film without a known face.” The actor has also been offered an international film where the American production house wants him to direct and act in the film, too.

CINEMA AND ITS SHACKLES
The experience with Poorna has only cemented Rahul's belief that cinema should achieve a balance between commerce and art. He explains, “If someone thinks cinema is pure art, they’re wrong. Why is it that some stars get paid better than others? It’s because they command that price and they bring in the audience. At film festivals, conversations suggest that cinema is pure art. It’s not. If you understand that thought, then you will understand why films can never tackle certain ‘taboo’ themes and why some markets don’t have great movies.” He also feels that the era in which a film is made, influences the treatment and the writing. He adds, “Every era revisits a story in its own way. In the 1950s, you could show that a guy marries a dark-skinned girl despite the complexion. Today, that story would be about the girl seeking validation elsewhere, because she doesn’t need marriage for that. Cinema really doesn’t allow space for a story to be redefined in the real sense. That can happens in other media, where money is not a constraint; experimental theatre for instance. However, things are changing fast and a decade later, we may not be discussing this either.”

In the last year alone, several films were politically attacked for their content before the release. Talking about this, he says, “Cinema has always been shackled and off late, the shackles have only increased. That is bad news for mainstream cinema. Commercial considerations anyway force the writers to not write certain things and now with newer considerations, it will be about the lowest common denominator. Cinema will no more provoke, excite and move you, because it won’t run any risks. This world will be full of big sci-fi films, where you don’t offend anyone. The optimistic side of me, even in these dangerous times, believes that art is subversive and it always finds a way to be expressed.” 

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 10, 2018)

What can you say about Kamal Haasan which hasn’t been said, heard or read about before? The South supremo turned 64 on November 7 and I turned to Rahul Bose to introduce me to the actor-filmmaker he met as the antagonist of Vishwaroopam, the 2013 spy thriller. Rahul admitted that he was aware of the long shadow Kamal cast over the industry and consequently his interactions with the legend and the director was tempered with a degree of respect and awe. “But the minute we stepped in front of the camera as actors, he treated me like an equal. We were like two contemporaries working towards making a scene, but as soon as ‘Cut’ was called, I was immediately aware of who he is,” he admits.

Rahul who represented India internationally in rugby for 25 years and continues to enjoy the sport, quickly discovered that the game that had earned him several scars down the years which he has flaunted like his trophies, made for an interesting topic of conversation. “We were like two veteran soldiers exchanging war stories and laughing over our wounds,” he chuckles, surprising me with the revelation that Kamal Haasan is an accomplished horse-rider with his own horses and stud farm. “He would talk about the various injuries he had sustained while doing stunts for films. Mr Haasan is such a perfectionist that as part of his prep, he learnt everything from riding to knife throwing. Vishwaroopam had a lot of wire work, action sequences which required him to leap on and jump off cars, and he was as agile as an 18-year-old,” he marvels.

His character in the film, Omar Qureshi, an Afghani jihadi who heads a terror outfit, is a man dying from radioactive cancer in the second half. With his body burning from inside, Omar underwent a lot of physical changes in the second half, including a voice transformation. “Usually we speak as we exhale, I spoke while I inhale, following the cues Mr Haasan was giving me. It was a freaky thing to do but fortunately he is open to ideas while knowing exactly what he wants and if you go off course, he will politely put you right,” informs Rahul, recalling how when he was dubbing for the film, his fellow actor, director, writer, producer was seated right beside, in the dubbing theatre for six days, going over every line with him.

However, once the shooting wrapped up, the two went their separate ways, not even connecting over the many pre-release controversies triggered off, bans and no shows in several states and even foreign markets. “I lost complete touch with him and his crew once the job was done. We reunited briefly for some patchwork shoot on the sequel around three years ago. I will always remember him as a supremely talented artiste, an intelligent, widely read man who is constantly curious with a need to learn and a huge interest in the technical aspect of filmmaking. For me, he was a great workshop.”

As told to Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 21, 2018)

After graduating in commerce from Mumbai’s Sydenham College, I immediately got admission to an MBA course in the US. But they suggested I get some work experience first so I joined Mahindra & Mahindra’s Jeep division and discovered that I enjoyed advertising far more than marketing. I wanted to be a copy writer so I dashed off a mock campaign for the CJ-340 jeep which went something like ‘Feels like a car, rides like a buggy and looks like a dream’. I mailed it off to three top ad agencies, Trikaya Grey, Rediffusion Y & R and Enterprise and the first two offered me a job without even taking a copy test. Without waiting for the third interview, I took up the Rediffusion job. I was 22 and worked at the agency for five years.

I joined as a trainee but quickly graduated to writing copy. The first campaign was for a shaving cream which was along the lines, “In the stillness of the morning, everything waits, the water waits, the razor quivers…” V Shantakumar was the creative director, Nitin Beri the art director and it was filmed by Mahesh Mathai. I went on to do several other campaigns for everything, from magazines and soft drinks to hotels and corporate ads. A corporate ad I worked on as a freelancer for a city eveninger bagged me the prestigious CAG (Communication Arts Guild).

At 25, I was offered English, August, Dev Benegal’s directorial debut based on Upamanyu Chatterjee novel by the same name. The agency gave me two months off to go and shoot the film after two decades in theatre. I had been on stage since I was six and in the second standard, I played Tom in a play titled Tom, The Piper’s Son, and it was like my home, I belonged there, theatre made me feel strong, confident and loved. I’d done professional theatre for four years in Mumbai, working in Rahul D’Cunha’s Are There Tigers in the Congo? and Prithvi Theatre’s The Sandbox among others. I was excited about the film offer too but I quickly realised that facing the movie camera was a completely different ball game. There is no immediate feedback from the audience and after a while I began to rely on my instincts. If your mind and heart is clean and uncluttered, your instincts almost never let you down.

After English, August I returned to advertising. I enjoyed the freedom the job gave me. I worked from 10 am to midnight most days, but timings were flexible and I could go hop off to the gym in the afternoon and come to the office in shorts. The money was really good and there was no hierarchy. My bosses, Arun Nanda and Ajit Balakrishnan, were Arun and Ajit to me, and even Shantakumar was Shanta.

I must have been not too shabby at my job because I was promoted to creative director at the age of 26. That was a big high though I was unhappy about going out for dinner and drinks with clients after office hours and told my bosses I wasn’t going to do it. They respected my decision. It also upset me that for the first time in my life, I had no time for theatre for a year.

Meanwhile, English, August which was in post-production for over a year, finally released in 1994 and was critically acclaimed. It was the first indie film to break the stranglehold of mainstrem Hindi cinema. Many in ad circles dabbled in theatre, but no one had played the lead in a feature film. Amidst all the congratulations, I surprised everyone by quitting advertising to become a full-time actor. My dad was aghast, “What will happen now?” he wondered. I told him I had two-months salary and Ajit amd Arun had assured me their doors were always open to me. If things didn’t work out, I could always go back. But I didn’t have to.

I was offered a daily soap, A Mouthful Of Sky, which gave me a monthly income for a year. Fiction television is not my medium but the soap paid me as much as I got as a creative director and gave me my financial independence. Then, Bombay Boys happened, and after that one film followed the other.

Over the years, I’ve occasionally brainstormed with friends on campaigns and even acted in a few commercials and endorsements. My experience as creative director has also helped me position my movies correctly, design the logo and brochures of my foundation, come up with innovative promotion ideas for films like Poorna which had a limited budget to play upon a popular phrase, you can take a person out of advertising but you can never take advertising out of a person.

MUMBAI MIRROR (January 2, 2018)

Industry buddies of actor-writer Vikram Kapadia gathered at his Juhu home to ring in the New Year. They included Karan Johar, Dino Morea, Rahul Bose, Esha Deol with husband Bharat Takhtani and Arjun Rampal.

Before this, KJo hosted a private dinner on his terrace, giving away special gifts and asking his guests about their New Year resolutions. Almost everybody had “losing weight” on their wish-list, including the filmmaker’s designer-friend, Manish Malhotra.

Karan partied all night, also dropping by Maheep Kapoor’s Sunday night bash. He and Manish went on to post pics of Kareena Kapoor strutting a la Angelina Jolie, as she lived it up in Switzerland, where she is presently holidaying with her nawab, Saif Ali Khan and son, Taimur.

Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; July 25, 2017)

Child sexual abuse is a grim reality in our country — one that is often swept under the rug. But actor Vidya Balan believes that it is time to speak up against the social malaise and fight it head-on. The actor has collaborated with Rahul Bose’s NGO HEAL [Help Eradicate Abuse through Learning] to fight child sexual abuse.

Balan played a survivor of child sexual abuse in Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh (2016). During a promotional event, the actor had said, “The abuse is often so traumatic that it paralyses people. No one wants to talk about it… It leaves you hopeless.” The actor is aware of how the victims are often scarred by the episode, but is hopeful that this initiative will help in creating a dialogue between parents and teachers, and the child to address the subject of sexual abuse. It also aims to help deal with any situation of abuse faced by children.

Talking about her association, Balan says, “After Kahaani 2 released, many people reached out to me to share their personal experiences of the trauma. What was shocking though was that many people I thought I knew well, were also victims of it. We tend to believe that child sexual abuse doesn’t happen to people we know. That’s when I realised how wrong my perception was. So, when Rahul told me about his initiative to fight this stigma in our society, I immediately decided to be a part of it.”

Debarati Sen (BOMBAY TIMES; June 16, 2017)

Zakir Hussain will cheer on Arijit Singh, Salim-Sulaiman and his protégé Raj Pandit at the music launch of Rahul Bose’s next directorial
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 3, 2017)


Sixteen years after tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain collaborated with Rahul Bose on his directorial debut, Everybody Says I’m Fine, the duo will re-unite at a suburban theatre today for the music launch of Rahul’s upcoming directorial, Poorna.

The Padma Shri who composed the 15-track album, performing three of them, “Zindagi”, “Discovery” and “Somewhere”, for the 2001 film, is not a part of Poorna but his protégé, Raj Pandit, is one of the playback singers. But the Ustad will be launching the album with the other singers.

“Zakir is always there when I need him,” says Rahul who shares a close friendship with the maestro who often plays the piano and sings in the choir at Rahul’s charitable events.

The event will also have live acts by Salim-Sulaiman who’ve composed the album and Arijit Singh who has crooned two songs, “Kuch Parbat Hilayein” and “Babul Mora”.

“I wanted the music of Poorna to be soulful, emotional and inspirational. I narrated the story to Salim-Sulaiman and they immediately came on board,” says Rahul, adding that Amitabh Bhattacharya as the lyricist was a boon. “And I’m also delighted to have Zakirbhai join the live jamming session. All the singers are excited to meet Zakirbhai too,” Rahul beams.

Poorna follows the journey of Poorna Malavath, the youngest girl to climb Mount Everest, at 13.

“The film talks about gender equality, asserting that girls who dare to dream are determined to succeed too. The music had to be just as inspirational as the real-life journey,” Rahul signs off.

Rahul Bose's directorial comeback gets a one-of-its-kind promotion as its real-life heroine gears up to unveil the first look at the Mount Kilimanjaro summit in Africa
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 9, 2016)

Mirror (May 23) was the first to report about Rahul Bose's return to direction 15 years after Everybody Says I'm Fine with his first home production, Poorna. Based on the life of Malavath Poorna, the biopic traces the Telangana girl's journey to a world record as she became the world's youngest girl to scale Mount Everest on May 25, 2014. Now, Mirror has learnt that Poorna who is gearing up for her next expedition, to Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro with 17 other girls, will unveil the film's first look at the mountain summit on India's Independence Day.

"We gave her two water-proof posters to carry along. She begins her ascent on August 10 and will unfurl the longest National Flag ever on August 15 at the summit," says an excited Rahul who is busy with the film's post-production at the moment. While Rahul and Poorna's mentor, Dr RS Praveen Kumar, who the actor-filmmaker is playing in the film, won't be able to accompany her, the youngster's trainer, Shekhar Babu, reunites with her after the Everest expedition.

"We are three weeks away from receiving the first copy of the film so I can't think of going anywhere. Also, I would have had to undergo training if I wanted to make the climb," reasons Rahul who is eyeing a November release and will kick off promotions two months in advance with a country-wide campaign where, besides the trailer, he will also showcase actual footage, giving audiences a firsthand experience of the climb.

Poorna was just 13 when she pitched the Indian flag at 6 am, followed by Sadhanapalli Anand, a 17-year-old student from the remote Khammam district, a couple of hours later. Both were students of the Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Schools and mentored by its secretary, Dr RS Praveen Kumar. Aditi Inamdar, a Telangana girl, was chosen to play Poorna on screen after Rahul auditioned 109 girls.