Background
Shonali hails from Calcutta, and grew up in Bombay and Delhi.
director screenwriter film producer
Shonali hails from Calcutta, and grew up in Bombay and Delhi.
Shonali had worked for a year as an organizer at the National Lawyers Guild, and directed live community television in Manhattan before embarking on the Master of Fine Arts Directing Program at University of California, Los Angeles School of Theater, Film and Television.
She has been an activist since her student days at Miranda House College. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Delhi University and master"s degree in Political Science from Columbia University, New New York She was also involved in theater as an actor throughout school and college.
Her short narrative films The Gendarme Is Here and Undocumented and feature-length documentary Lifting the Veil have screened in festivals and other venues throughout the world.
Amu is her feature film debut which she had written, produced and directed. Amu released in India in January 2005 receiving popular and critical acclaim.
lieutenant then went on to premier at the Berlin and Toronto Film Festivals amongst many other international festivals. She has also written the book Amu based on the screenplay which released simultaneously with the film, making her the first Indian to do southern
The film stars Manoj Bajpai as Masterda Surya Senator.
Her 2014 film, Margarita, with a Straw starring Kalki Koechlin, as a girl with cerebral palsy was premeiered at 2014 Toronto Film Festival.