Kamal Bose

Kamal Bose Biography

Kamal Bose was one of the leading cinematographers of Bollywood most known for his long term association with Bimay Roy. Parineeta (1953), Do Bigha Zamin (1953), Bandini (1963), Devdas (1955) and Sujata (1960) are beautiful poems born on celluloid in this association. He has received best cinematographer award at Filmfare 5 times. Those movies are Bandini (B&W, 1964), Anokhi Raat (B&W, 1970), Khamoshi (B&W, 1971), Dastak (B&W, 1972), Dharmatma (1976). He was a pioneer of Black and white screens. Yet he has done many memorable colour films like Qurbani (1980), Janbaaz (1986) and Dayavan (1988), all in association with actor-director Feroz Khan. Kamal Bose was born in the year 1905 and this legend passed away in 1995, aged 80.

His long-term association with Bimal Roy began with the movie, Anjangarh (1948), one of last major films of the New Theatres in Kolkata. Earlier Kolkata was the film center of India, and when it witnessed a decline, like many artists, Bose too moved to Mumbai. Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Nabendu Ghosh, Asit Sen, Bose and Salil Chaudhury were among those leading names who shifted to Mumbai. He restarted the second phase of his career with Maa (1952) for Bombay Talkies. Thereafter Bose collaborated with Roy in all his subsequent films, beginning with Parineeta in 1953. Do Bigha Zamin (1953) was the first Indian movie to win International Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Naukri (1954), Baap Beti (1954), Devdas (1955), Amaanat (1955), Sujata (1960), Parakh (1960) and Bandini (1963) are other movies in their association.

His masterly use of black and white, to bring "texture and form in simplicity mixed with richness" was well noticed in the movie, Bandini. Musafir (1957) and Kabuliwala (1961) are other noted works. After the death of Bimal Roy in 1966, he started working with Asit Sen. Apradhi Kaun? (1957), Anokhi Raat (1968), Khamoshi (1969) and Safar (1970) silently witnessed his transition to colour.

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Updated: January 08, 2014