NEW DELHI: A Pakistani film, ‘Bol’ by Shoaib Manzoor, has won the best Hindi/Urdu film award from the Lucknow-based civil society Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS).

The award has been given for being a topical and thought-provoking film for raising many social issues including the regressive attitude of a male-dominated society. Shoaib Manzoor earlier achieved fame in India with ‘Khuda ke liye’, which also starred Naseeruddin Shah.

The awards have been given to acknowledge and accept the great impact of cinema on Indian socio-cultural life.

Rajeev Khandelwal gets the best male character award for playing Raunak Kaul, the DJ in ‘Soundtrack‘ who battles the inner demons and comes back from the verge of extinction.

Vidya Balan, who essays the role of Reshma alias Silk in the film ‘Dirty Picture’, gets the best female character award for presenting the roller-coaster and controversial life of actress Silk Smitha. The Best director award has been given to Onir for the film ‘I Am‘ for raising many important issues of social concern like child abuse, gay rights, Kashmiri Pandits’ problems and the issue of sperm donation in an intricate but beautiful manner.

The Best story award has been given to ‘Kya Yahi Sach Hai‘ written by Y P Singh, ex IPS officer for being a very genuine and truthful story about governance and policing. The Best song award has been given to “Mauka” from the film ‘Aarakshan‘ written by Prasoon Joshi, for depicting the contradictory positions being taken on reservation by its opponents and supporters.

The awards were picked by a Jury headed by social activist and IPS officer Amitabh Thakur along with others.