Manhole (2016 film)

Manhole
Directed byVidhu Vincent
Written byUmesh Omanakuttan
Produced byM. P. Vincent
StarringMunshi Baiju
Renu Sounder
CinematographySaji Kumar
Edited byAppu Bhattathiri
Music bySidhartha Pradeep
Release date
  • 11 December 2016 (2016-12-11) (International Film Festival of Kerala)
CountryIndia
LanguageMalayalam

Manhole is a 2016 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Vidhu Vincent, depicting the life and struggles of a manual scavenger's daughter.[1] The film was adjudged the Best Film of the year 2016 by the jury for the Kerala State Film Awards 2016 and the Director of the film was selected as the Best Director of the year 2016. This made Vidhu Vincent the first woman to win the Best Director Award in the history of Kerala State Film Awards since its inception in 1969.[2] According to jury chairman Apurba Kishore Bir, Manhole was the unanimous choice among the jury members for convincingly bringing the plight of the marginalised on screen.[3]

The film was also chosen as one of the only two Malayalam films in the competition category of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) 2016. This has made Vidhu Vincent the first woman director to enter the competition section in the twenty-year history of IFFK. Manhole is the first feature film directed by Vidhu Vincent. The film also grabbed the FIPRESCI : Best Malayalam Film Award during the IFFK 2016. The film was selected for the award "for the raw reality with which the film sheds light on the persistent inhumanity of manual scavengers in India, despite its being legally banned, in a cinematically eloquent manner."[4]

  1. ^ "Manhole (2016)". IMDb. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  2. ^ Staff Reporter. "Vidhu Vincent bags best director award for 'Manhole'". www.thehindu.com. The Hindu. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  3. ^ Staff Reporter. "Vidhu Vincent bags best director award for 'Manhole'". The Hindu. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  4. ^ "FIPRESCI : BEST MALAYALAM FILM MANHOLE". 21 st IFFK. IFFK. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2017.