Railway Children is a 2016 Indian Kannada feature film written and directed by Prithvi Konanur. It is inspired from Rescuing Railway Children written by Lalitha Iyer and Malcolm Harper that describes the lives of children that run away from their homes, live in railway stations and trains, and grow up as criminals, despite their intentions being harmless and seeking only to earn a living.
Produced by TinDrum Beats, the film featured mostly non-actors. The plot revolves around a 12-year-old runaway who falls into the hands of a gang involved in illegal businesses. Manohara K., Syed Pervez, Yash Shetty, Divya M. R., Karthik and Parimala appear in lead roles. The film premiered at the Mumbai International Film Festival in October 2016. Manohara won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist and Karnataka State Film Award for Best Child Actor (Male) for his performance. The film was also named the Second Best Film at the 2016 Karnataka State Film Awards.
Cast
Mahonara K. as Jollu
Yash Shetty as Solution
Syed Pervez as Pappu
Karthik as Karthik
Srikanth as Railway child
Vj Shetty as a Police inspector
Hanumant Raju as Railway child
Divya M. R. as Divya
Satish Acharya
Naresh as phone booth owner
Parimala as Raju
Manjunath as Police Constable
Narasappa as Jollu's father
Akash as Railway child
Ramesh Babua as ticket collector
Basavaraju as beggar
Chinnu as new recruit
Mangala as Jollu's mother
Jyothi as NGO worker
Ramachandra Hosur as tea stall owner
Production
Railway Children was produced through crowdfunding by Tindrum Beats, a film production company based in Udupi. The film was also supported by Don Thompson (producer, playwright) through NextPix/FirstPix grant.
Soundtrack
Chandan Shetty scored the film's music and for its soundtrack. The soundtrack was released on YouTube.
Release and reception
The film premiered at the Jio Mami Mumbai film Festival on 23 October 2016 where it competed for the Golden Gateway award. It was reported that it would also be screened at the European Film festival before releasing theatrically in India.
The film was released in select multiplexes and single screen cinema halls in major cities in Karnataka on 22 December 2017.
The film was met with critical acclaim. Wishberry.in included it among the 9 brilliant Indian films of 2016
DUBeat included it in the 5 must-watch movies of Mumbai Film Festival
Bangalore Mirror gave 4 out of 5 wrote "for US-returned techie-turned-director Prithvi has lent it the mature tone while retaining the suspense till the end whose parallel can best be seen in some of the Iranian flicks."
Kannadaprabha, a Kannada daily gave 4 out of 4 calling it a must-watch, and wrote in Kannada "The film has the ability to engage you and disturb you at the same time."
Times of India gave 3.5 out of 5 and wrote " this film unwinds in its own leisurely pace, offering a strikingly real and scary peek into the lives of children who run away from homes and live near railway stations."
Accolades
64th National Film Awards
Winner National Film Award for Best Child Artist — Manohara K.
2016 Karnataka State Film Awards
Winner Second Best Film — Prithvi Konanur
Winner Best Child Actor (Male) — Manohara K.