Delupi

Partha, the son of impoverished Jatra performers (a form of folk theater that remains popular to this day, particularly in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent), is searching for his own path. While his parents continue to do everything they can to earn a living through theater, his best friend Mihir is involved in politics: He wants to prevent old cliques in the village from taking the reins again and stop the manipulative opposition leader, who has returned from exile, from exploiting the people’s hardships for his own corrupt purposes. Partha, on the other hand, is above all in love, but the parents of his beloved Nupur do not consent to the marriage. Is eloping a good idea, especially since the village is being ravaged by a massive flood? As the world around him sinks into the floodwaters, Partha tries to keep a clear head…

Rarely has a film managed to portray the existential hardships of an entire generation so powerfully, without succumbing to even the slightest hint of paternalism or misanthropy. And rarely has cinema told the story so eloquently—and yet with so few words—of how the devastating consequences of climate change and land grabbing play out in one of the most marginalized regions on the planet!