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.

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.

Debarati Sen (BOMBAY TIMES; June 16, 2017)