Manish Jha is an Indian film writer and director. known for film like ''

Matrubhoomi ''Matrubhoomi: A Nation Without Women'' (Hindi: मातृभूमि, translation: ''Motherland'') is a 2003 Indian dystopian tragedy film written and directed by Manish Jha. The film examines the impact of female foeticide and female inf ...

.''

Early life and education

Born in Dhamaura, in

West Champaran district West Champaran is an administrative district in the state of Bihar in India, located just west of Birgunj. It is the largest district in Bihar with an area of 5,228 km²(2,019sq mi). It is a part of Tirhut Division. The district headquarte ...

of Bihar, Jha grew up in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

where he had moved at an early age. He did his graduation in English from Ramjas College,

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

, where he also joined its theatre group aiming to become an actor.

Career

After completing his studies, Jha moved to Mumbai and began working as an assistant director in television serials hoping to get a break. When the break never came, he made a five-minute short film on the homeless putting in Rs 30,000, ''A Very Very Silent Film'', which won the Jury Prize for the Best Short Film at the 2002

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

.A Very Very Silent Film: Award
''

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, p ...

''. Thereafter he made his feature debut with ''

'' (2003) about effects of female infanticide, which won a series of awards and critical acclaim. At the

2003 Venice Film Festival The 60th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 27 August to 6 September 2003. The festival opened with Woody Allen's Out of Competition film ''Anything Else''. Juries The following people comprised the 2003 jury for the featur ...

, it was presented in the Critic's Week (Parallel section) and later awarded the FIPRESCI Award "For its important theme on women's issues and female infanticide handled with sensitivity by a first-time director". His next was ''

Anwar Anwar may refer to: * Anwar (name), a given name and surname (including a list of people and characters with the name) * Anwar (singer) (born 1949), an Indian playback singer * ''Anwar'' (2007 film), a 2007 Hindi film * ''Anwar'' (2010 film), a 2 ...

'' (2007), a film set in Lucknow, about stereotyping of Muslims in the post 9/11 era. In 2008, he directed the segment title, "And it Rained" in anthology film, with 11 directors, ''

Mumbai Cutting ''Mumbai Cutting'' is a 2008 Indian anthology film comprising eleven short films, telling eleven different stories based on life in Mumbai, which are directed by a host of eleven directors: Anurag Kashyap, Sudhir Mishra, Rahul Dholakia, Kundan ...

'', which became the closing film of 10th Osian's Cinefan Festival in Delhi. He next directed a two-hour yoga DVD, ''Shilpa's Yoga'' (2008) for actress

Shilpa Shetty Shilpa Shetty Kundra (born Ashwini Shetty; Née Shetty; 8 June 1975) is an Indian actress who works mainly in Hindi-language films. Shetty made her screen debut in the thriller '' Baazigar'' (1993) which garnered her nominations for two Filmfar ...

, shot against the coastal backdrop of Kerala.

Filmography

;Director *''

'' (2003) * ''

'' (2007) * ''

'' (segment "And It Rained") (2010) * '' The Legend of Michael Mishra'' (2016) ; Screenwriter *''

'' (2005) * ''

'' (2007) * '' The Legend of Michael Mishra'' (2016) ;

Awards

;''A Very Very Silent Film'' * Jury Prize for ''Matruboomi'' in the Best Short Film category at the 2002

* FIPRESCI Award in Parallel Section at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

2003Matrubhoomi Awards
''

''. * Audience Award for Best Film at the Kozlin Film Festival 2003, Poland * Audience Award for Best Foreign Film at

Thessaloniki Film Festival The Thessaloniki Film Festival is a Thessaloniki-based cultural institution focusing on cinema. The Institution organizes the Thessaloniki International Film Festival every November and the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival every March, while its ...

, 2003 * Nominated for Golden Alexander (Best Film) at

, 2003 * Audience Award for Best Film at

River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

, 2003

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jha, Manish Film directors from Bihar 1978 births Living people People from West Champaran district Delhi University alumni Hindi-language film directors Indian male screenwriters Ramjas College alumni