Shonali Bose – Writer / Director / Producer

Shonali Bose was born in 1965 and grew up in Calcutta, Bombay and Delhi. She has been an activist since her student days at Miranda House College, Delhi University (BA History Honours) and Columbia University, New York (MA Political Science). Bose was also passionately involved in theater throughout school and college. In 1984 she co-wrote and acted in a street play on the Delhi Riots which was performed in relief camps, riot-affected areas, markets, schools, and colleges across Delhi.

Shonali worked for a year as an organizer at the National Lawyer’s Guild, and directed live community television in Manhattan before embarking on the MFA Directing Program at UCLA's School of Theatre, Film, and Television. Her short narrative films (The Gendarme Is Here and Undocumented) and her feature-length documentary (Lifting the Veil) have screened throughout the world.

Bose lives in Los Angeles with her family, where she produces and hosts a monthly radio show about South Asia on KPFK.  Amu is her feature film debut and is written, produced and directed by her.

Dr. Bedabrata Pain – Executive Producer

Bedabrata Pain or Bedo as he is commonly called has been critically involved with the creative, political and financial aspects of Amu right from its inception. Married as he is to Shonali Bose, the film is a product of a truly joint effort. Having consistently organized conferences and campaigns on the issue of injustice of 1984 and for the affirmation of rights, he played a critical role in giving final shape to the screenplay.

Six years ago, in 1999, in a coffee shop in Los Angeles, when they decided to make a film on 1984, they knew that it would not be an easy task – creatively or financially. There are so many things to say about 1984. What would be the key theme that Amu must highlight? Who would finance such a film?

From then it was an uphill battle to turn the idea into a screenplay and the screenplay into a film. There were many closed doors and rude rejections. In February 2003 one such rejection was from a professional production company in India that pulled out at the last minute. On that very same day – coincidentally and magically Bedo received a royalty check from NASA for a path breaking invention of his that had got sold. Deciding between the children’s education fund, mortgage debts and Amu – was easy for the couple. Although there were miles to go and many more hurdles before the rest (and bulk) of the money was raised at least Amu was on her way.

A NASA scientist by profession Dr. Bedabrata Pain is one of the inventors of the active pixel sensor technology that produced the world’s smallest camera in 1995, and led to the digital imaging revolution in the world. This was the invention that provided the seed funding for Amu. In 1997 he was inducted to the US Space Technology Hall of Fame.

Growing up in Rabindranath Tagore and Satyajit Ray’s Bengal, literature and music come naturally to Bedo. A playwright, singer and activist, he was also the principal researcher for their previous film – a documentary called “Lifting the Veil.”

Bedabrata: “The issue of Delhi 1984 remains very much alive because even after twenty years, it remains a matter of justice denied. It is not possible for India to move forward, if wounds like these are allowed to fester. And the political trend that was set in motion in 1984 continues to haunt the Indian polity.”