Kenjira: Manoj Kana’s Award-winning movie is now streaming on Neestream

Kenjira, the movie, which has won Kerala State and National Awards, is released on Neestream. Helmed by Manoj Kana, the movie portrays the struggles of Paniya tribe, an Adivasi group in Kerala’s Wayanad, to survive. 

The 2019 movie in Paniya language, has a disturbing and intense narrative on the centuries-old suppression faced by the community. Centering around a girl from the community as the lead, the film further explores the social exploitations and humiliations faced by them. Vinusha Ravi plays the lead and the rest of the characters are played by the members of the community themselves. The cast includes K V Chandran, Mohini, Joy Mathew, Sanooj Krishnan, Karunan and Coly Amma.

The film, which has a running time of 81 minutes, was premiered at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) 2019. The tribals were present at the screening, and at the end, they celebrated their happiness dancing as the director also joined them. 

Though the movie had initially opted for the OTT platform Action OTT, it was later moved to Neestream. Talking exclusively to OTTplay, director Manoj Kana had earlier revealed about the revenue hurdles he had to face for the streaming. The filmmaker had also talked about how he had invested almost 23 years to make the movie.

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The movie was also chosen for the Indian Panorama, International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, and Kolkata International Film Festival. The movie had also won the Kerala State Award for second Best Film at the 50th Kerala State Film Awards.