Shonali Bose (born 3 June 1965) is an Indian film director, writer and film producer. Having made her feature film debut in 2005, she has since won such accolades as a National Film Award, a Bridgestone Narrative Award, and a Sundance Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award. Bose earned her breakthrough with her first feature film, the 2005 biographical drama Amu, which was based on her own novel of the same name. The film which chronicles the attacks on Sikhs in Delhi in 1984, garnered critical acclaim and the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English. Bose then worked as the assistant director for the 2012 war film Chittagong, which she also co-wrote. Bose's status as a filmmaker grew following the critical and commercial success of the dramas Margarita with a Straw (2015) and The Sky Is Pink (2019). Inspired from the life of Malini Chib—her cousin and a disability rights activist, the former earned Bose a Sundance Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award and a NETPAC Award. Bose is also an active philanthropist and supports various charitable organisations. She was married to filmmaker Bedabrata Pain, but the couple separated following the death of their son. Early life Shonali Bose was born on 3 June 1965 in Calcutta, West Bengal, and spent most of her young adult life in Mumbai and New Delhi. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Delhi University and master's degree in political science from Columbia University, New York. She has been an activist since her time at Miranda House in Delhi University. Bose was also involved in theatre as an actor throughout school and college. Bose did not originally plan to be involved in film, however she saw it as a better outlet for activism after realizing how far removed her Ph.D. studies were from activism. On her film work she says, "Film is the means with which I want to communicate ideas about social and political change." Career Early career and breakthrough with Amu (1999-2010) Bose worked as an organizer for the National Lawyers Guild for about a year. She directed live community television in Manhattan before joining the MFA Directing Program at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Early in her career, Bose directed such short films as The Gendarme Is Here and Undocumented, and the feature-length documentary Lifting the Veil; the productions were screened at numerous film festivals. Bose made her feature