Into the Manhole

Jayesh Pillai | Abhishek Verma | Banda Shiva Teja | Ananda Bathena

Synopsis: “Compelled by the exigencies of poor economic life and caste identity, Amitabh, a young law graduate, becomes a manual scavenger. One day, to earn some extra money to support his family, he decides to get inside a large, unsafe sewer to clear a blockage. He has neither protective gear nor an accompanying engineer to check for poisonous gases. Will Amitabh come out safely?”

This is a 6 degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) VR narrative experience created using the Unreal game engine. This experience is part of a larger project that aims to spread awareness about the dangers of manual scavenging in India.

Into the Manhole received the FICCI BAF Award 2025 for Best XR Short Film. The production of the film was supported by IRCC, IIT Bombay.


Into the Manhole - Trailer


VR Narrative

In the evolving landscape of film and storytelling, Virtual Reality (VR) is emerging as a transformative medium. Unlike traditional films constrained by a static frame, VR offers a six degrees-of-freedom that allows audiences to explore stories from multiple perspectives and move within the story environment. This shift from passive observation to active participation poses both opportunities and challenges for narrative creators. Among the projects exploring this new frontier is “Into the Manhole” a work that attempts to merge the boundaries of film and interactive experience.

A detailed documentaion of our design process and techincal pipeline will be updated soon.

A 360° view from the VR Narrative


Media Coverage


ITM_screenshot2
A screenshot from the experience: Amitabh clearing the sludge.


Collaborators

IMXD Lab IDC School of Design, IIT Bombay Deckor.co
The production of the VR Narrative was supported by IRCC, IIT Bombay.

Core Team

Abhishek Verma

Writer & Director

Jayesh Pillai

VR Director

Banda Shiva Teja

Technical Director

Ananda Bathena

Sound Design & Background Score

Cast (Voice & Mocap)

Aniruddha Deodhar : Bunty Ram
Gandharva Walavalkar : Amitabh Ruth
Adarsh Kumar : Amitabh Ruth
G V Sreekumar : Angry Uncle

Production Team

Arivukkarasu Periyasamy : MoCap Cleanup & Character Animation
Harshal Yadav : MoCap Cleanup & Character Animation
Uttham Prakash : Unreal Technical Artist
Zechariah Sari : Unreal Technical Artist
Muskan Ahuja : Additional 3D Modeling & Texturing
Bishal Brahma : Additional 3D Modeling & Texturing
Pranjal Saini : Posters & Branding
Nandhini Sreekumar : Posters & Branding