The Cleansing Rites2005
Introduction
Body of Work
A family in a remote village in South India realises that its once ostentatious feudal existence is over when it cannot perform the funeral rites on the grand scale on which it used to. The grandmother of a once wealthy household has died. The family awaits the arrival of one son from Mumbai. There are tensions inherent in the situation as personalities and egos clash, compounded by loneliness and stagnation. Who will perform the rites and with what money? Who will understand the rebellious youngster and his widowed father who looks for companionship? What will happen to the crumbling house and the fractious family? The film depicts the death of the feudal system in coastal Karnataka and the impact the land ceiling act, ushered in the 60s and 70s, has had on its social structure.