Nagraj Manjule

Nagraj Manjule Biography

Nagraj Manjule is a National award winning film maker, poet and screenwriter, who came to limelight with his first short film itself. It was titled Pistulya. In 2014, he made his directorial debut as a feature film director through the movie, Fandry which earned him Grand Jury Prize at Mumbai and Pune International Film Festival as well as Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director at National Film awards 2014. His short film Pistulya has also won a National award. Pistulya won Best First Non-Feature Film at 58th National Film Awards in 2010. This 35-year old director with two National awards for 2 films has a charming and promising career ahead. He is a noted poet of Marathi literature whose collection of poems 'Unhachya Kataviruddha’ received ‘Damani literary Award’.

He was born in a small remote village near Solapur, Maharashtra. He belonged to a poor, backward family of rural area and had to struggle a lot for proper education and everything else. Caste system was also heavily promoted during his childhood days. His father strived hard so that he could provide Nagraj proper education. While making his debut short film, he was inspired a lot from his childhood days. He completed M.A. in Marathi literature from University of Pune and Masters in communication studies from New Arts, Science and Commerce College, Ahmednagar.

His debut feature film Fandry, taken in Marathi language was received with thunderous applause and whistles while it was showed in Mumbai Film Festival. It received National award for best short film as well. Fandry starred Kishor Kadam alongside mostly unknown actors. The director made a cameo appearance as a bicycle shop owner in this short film.

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Updated: April 18, 2014