Shonali Bose on discovering her bisexuality: 'We acknowledged it, but were scared to tell even our woman friends'

Filmmaker Shonali Bose has revealed that it was during an education program that she discovered her bisexuality. She has said she met Sheral, a girl who visited India for the programme and fell in love with her after being with her for six months.

Shonali worked with Kalki Koechlin on the critically acclaimed film, Margarita with A Straw. In her recent interview, Shonali shared that even after recognising and acknowledging her bisexuality, she was scared to talk about it. She also expressed hopes that the youth does not face such situations now.

Shonali told Pinkvilla, "Six months of being with her (Sheral) and we realized being in love. And it was different from being best friend as if our bodies touched, there was an electricity that went through the body. We recognized and acknowledged it, but were scared to tell even our woman friends. I hope, the youth today don’t have that shame and have more courage to come out."

She also talked about feeling natural with both men and women. "I know I am bisexual because before, I had a boyfriend and it felt very natural to me, then a girlfriend too before I finally got married to a man. After my marriage ended, I was again with a girl followed by a man. So, I do know that there is a thing like bisexuality and I am genuinely at ease with both men and women."

About her Margarita With A Straw, she told the entertainment portal, "I was putting my own youth into the character. I was in Miranda House College and we didn’t have gay education, no one was taught about this. We thought, we are all heterosexual and didn’t think if there was even an option to not be a heterosexual."

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The film came out after the Supreme Court refused to decriminalize homosexuality in 2013. After a world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the film released in 2015.

Shonali's recent outing The Sky Is Pink featured Priyanka Chopra and Farhan Akhtar in lead roles. It was the based on the real-life story of real life couple Aditi and Niren Chaudhary who lost their 18-year-old daughter Aisha to pulmonary fibrosis.