An obscure, small budget 22-minute film that explores the relationship between men, women and their physical and mental spaces seems like an unlikely candidate for a National Award for cinematography. So imagine Delhi-based Savita Singh’s surprise when she found herself sharing a stage with heavyweights Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Prasoon Joshi and Priyadarshan at Vigyan Bhavan on Wednesday, where she accepted the national award medallion from President Pratibha Patil for her first film as a cinematographer. Singh, 29, passed out from FTII two years ago and began work on this project with her senior, Amit Dutta who was making a film, Kra Ma Sha (To be Continued). “It won the International Film Critics Awards for Best Cinematography at Oberhausen Film festival in Germany as well but the National Award is a big honour,” says Singh, who graduated from IP College in Delhi. “It’s more surprising because the movie is so abstract, minus a traditional storyline. It’s just many events pasted together,” says Singh.

The story, if you can call it that, is about a man who dreams about a sadhu who takes rounds near his house that evokes forgotten memories of his village. But Singh the student, clearly made an impression with her camera frames, creating an expressive damp and mossy look in the film. “The movie was shot during the monsoons and it had to look like early morning shots throughout,” says Singh who grew up watching regional cinema on Doordarshan and counts French directors Godard and Tarkovasky as her inspirations.