''Admitted'' is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language docudrama film directed by

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which a ...

-based director Ojaswwee Sharma. The film is about Dhananjay Chauhan, the first transgender student at

Panjab University Panjab University (PU) is a collegiate public state university located in Chandigarh, Punjab. Funded through both State and Union governments, it is considered a state university. It traces its origins to the University of the Punjab in Laho ...

. The role of Dhananjay Chauhan has been played by Dhananjay herself. ''Admitted'' was declared best documentary at 17th

Mumbai International Film Festival The Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF) is a festival organized in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) by the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It ...

, and won the Silver Conch award for Best Documentary Film (above 60 minutes) in the National Competition section. It won the

National Film Award – Special Jury Award (feature film) National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

at the

68th National Film Awards The 68th National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2020 in Indian cinema. The awards ceremony was originally slated to be held ...

Plot

The film, narrated by Dhananjay Chauhan, tells the story of five decades of the life of Dhananjay, a doctoral scholar at

It focuses on Dhananjay's struggles to uplift her life and the transgender community to mainstream society. It also depicts Dhananjay's crusade against authorities for the transgenders.

Production

Produced by Pinaka Mediaworks, the film was announced in August 2018. The film was shot in and around Panjab University campus. The film is around two-hour long. Director Ojaswwee Sharma, also an alumnus of Panjab University, said in the interview that he "wanted to explore this famous example of transgender education in a mainstream public university in North India, and the development of transgender rights, education and acceptance to the mainstream".

Release

The film was to release in March 2020 on

International Transgender Day of Visibility International Transgender Day of Visibility (often referred to as TDOV or Trans Day of Visibility) is an annual event occurring on March 31 dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender ...

, but due to COVID-19 lockdown in India, the release was delayed. It was released on Rolling Frames Entertainment's YouTube channel on 13 June 2020.

Reception

''Admitted'' won the Silver Conch award for Best Documentary Film at 17th

. The jury noted "film's forceful and brave lead character, and how the subject has been dealt with by the filmmaker". The film also won the

. The film was also shown at several film festivals including NFDC Film Bazaar, Goa; Jagran Film Festival, Mumbai; Bioscope Global Film Festival, Amritsar; Tarang - Delhi International Queer Theatre & Film Festival; and Impact Doc Awards, California.

References

External links

* {{National Film Award Special Jury Award feature film 2020 documentary films Indian docudrama films Transgender-related documentary films Biographical documentary films 2020 LGBT-related films Indian LGBT-related films