Rahul Bose an Indian actor, screenwriter, film director, social activist, and rugby union player.
He is notable for his involvement in the relief efforts that followed the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami and is also the founder of the anti-discrimination NGO, The Foundation. He also played international rugby on the National Orange Indian Rugby Team.
Rahul Bose was born to Rupen and Kumud Bose on 27 July 1967. He spent his childhood in Kolkata, West Bengal and then moved to Mumbai with his family. His mother introduced him to boxing and rugby union.He also played cricket and was coached by cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.
He is an alumnus of the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai. After being rejected by a number of American universities, Bose attended Sydenham College. While at the college he played on the schools rugby team and competed at the Western India Championships, winning a silver medal in boxing. After his mothers death in 1987, Bose began working as a copy writer at Rediffusion. Bose left his job as an advertising creative director to become a full-time actor after the release of his first film, English, August.
Bose started his acting career at age six when he played the lead in his school play, Tom, the Pipers Son. He later performed on the Bombay stage in the plays Topsy Turvy and There Are Tigers In The Congo. He also performed abroad in venues such as the Leicester Haymarket in England where he starred in Tim Muraris The Square Circle. After his aunt sent his head shots to director Dev Benegal, he was cast in the film English, August. His other notable films include Split Wide Open (Best Actor, Singapore Film Festival, 2000), Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, Jhankaar Beats, and Pyaar Ke Side Effects. In 2001, he made his directorial debut with Everybody Says Im Fine!. Despite his roles in more mainstream movies like Thakshak and Chameli, Bose has been called "the superstar of Indian arthouse cinema" by Time magazine and "the Sean Penn of Oriental cinema" by Maxim.He is scheduled to begin shooting his adaptation of Mohsin Hamids novel, Moth Smoke in November 2009.
In 1998, Bose was part of the first Indian national rugby team to play in an international event, the Asian Rugby Football Union Championship. He has played both scrum-half and right-winger positions. In an interview with Daily News & Analysis, Bose indicated that he would not return to the team for the 2009 season.
Bose assisted in the relief efforts in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands after the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. As a result of this work, Bose launched the Andaman and Nicobar Scholarship Initiative through his NGO, The Foundation. The scholarship program provides for the education of underprivileged children from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He is associated with several other charitable organizations such as Akshara Centre, Breakthrough, and the Spastics Society of India. In addition, he became the first Indian Oxfam global ambassador in 2007. He is also an ambassador for both the American India Foundation and the World Youth Peace Movement. He was also a vocal proponent of Narmada Bachao Andolan and its efforts to halt the construction of the Narvada dam. Bose has given lectures on gender equality and human rights at Oxford and during the 2004 World Youth Peace Summit.
Rahul Bose formerly dated Koel Purie, who he directed in his film, Everybody Says Im Fine!. The couple also appeared together in the 2004 film White Noise
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