Actor Rahul Bose recalls humiliating experience during his last rugby game
BENGALURU: When actor and sportsperson Rahul Bose announced his retirement from professional rugby in 2008 after playing for India, little did he know he would hit back harder. It was during his last match between India and Philippines that he was to play in the second half. As he was warming up for his turn, he soon realised his coach had passed him over.
While the team won the match and went on to celebrate, Bose found himself in a tight spot. “ I hit the bar, drank beer from 6pm to 2am and was still sober. When I ran into the coach at the same bar, I went up to him and asked, ‘Why?’. I got the most violent answer. Silence,” shared Bose to members of the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) during an hour-long talk on Making the Impossible, Possible.
Back in Mumbai, he decided he wouldn’t retire after all. He went on to engage his own sprint and conditioning coach to play a competitive game in Singapore. Even as he admitted it may have sounded “desperate” for a 42-year-old to go to this extent to prove himself, Bose decided that he had to ace the game. And he did – playing in the front 15 of the game.
“Every single one of us has been in such a situation wherein we have been unfairly targetted. It could be at work where you’ve been hoping for that promotion, and not only are you passed on, but also demoted,” he said, acknowledging that this was one of his most difficult moments to live and re-live. “Even to this minute, I feel the public humiliation I experienced as the other team members celebrated the victory,” he said. While he might have learnt the lesson the hard way, Bose’s invaluable lesson has been combating defeat by becoming better than the best.
“Hold it so close to you and prove yourself. Rugby has taught me more than my parents have,” he said to the packed audience. Bose has come a long way since his first film, which he shot in Andhra Pradesh in the early ’90s. With no one to validate or guide him, he recalled being paralysed when he was told it was chosen for the Toronto Film Festival.
“When the director called me to let me know, my first response was, ‘But I haven’t even watched the film.’ To which he said, ‘Just watch it when its screened.’ When I did reach there, I sat paralysed, watching myself for the first time and thought that I’d got away with minor injuries. If you are pushed to the wall, you will dive deep to achieve the impossible,” he said.