Manish Jha, the Bollywood film director and screenwriter, has received critical acclamations for his films like Matrubhoomi-A Nation without Women and A Very Very Silent Film. Since his college days he had an inclination towards the entertainment world and was associated with a theatre group. He began his career as an assistant director and gradually started working independently for his film winning applauses from critics.

Early Life of Manish Jha
Manish Jha was born on 3rd May 1978 in Narkatiaganj region of the West Champaran district, in the Indian state Bihar. He shifted to Delhi at a young age and spent most of his childhood there. He graduated from Ramjas College, Delhi University in English. At the college he was associated with its theatre group and aimed to become an actor.

Career of Manish Jha
After the completion of his studies, Manish Jha moved to Mumbai for pursuing a career in the film industry. There he began his career as an assistant director in television serials and hoped to get a big break. However in lack of opportunities he came up with his own five-minute documentary titled A Very Very Silent Film, on the homeless. He invested his 30,000 rupees for the film which won widespread acclamations from critics. He also won the Jury Prize for the Best Short Film at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for the movie. Subsequently in the year 2003 he marked his debut in the feature film with the movie Matrubhoomi. The film focussed on the effects of female infanticide and once again won critical appreciations along with a series of awards. The movie was presented at the 2003 Venice Film Festival in the Critic"s Week (Parallel section). Later it also won the FIPRESCI Award "For it"s important theme on women"s issues and female infanticide handled with sensitivity by a first-time director". Matrubhoomi also won Audience Award for Best Film at River to River Florence Indian Film Festival, Audience Award for Best Foreign Film at Thessaloniki Film Festival and Audience Award for Best Film at the Kozlin Film Festival 2003, Poland.

His next venture was Anwar in 2007 which portrayed the stereotyping of Muslims in the post 9/11 era with a backdrop of Lucknow. Manish Jha also stated that the film was inspired by his own experience in New York. His following directional venture was in 2008 when he directed the segment titled "And it Rained" in the anthology film Mumbai Cutting. 11 more directors were involved in the film and it was the closing film of 10th Osian"s Cinefan Festival in Delhi. Manish Jha also directed Shilpa"s Yoga, a two-hour yoga DVD for actress Shilpa Shetty, in 2008 in the coastal backdrop of Kerala. Apart from direction, Manish Jha has also worked as screenwriter for the movie Anwar and Matrubhoomi.

Filmography of Manish Jha