Paradesi

The events take place in the nineteen forties. India is not yet independent. Poor people live in a village. They get through their days on very little. An agent comes to the village and promises work. He says they will work on tea plantations. The pay and the conditions are made to sound good. The villagers believe what they are told. When they reach the plantations the picture is different. A system of debt ties them to the place. Anyone who tries to leave is punished. The hours and the housing are harsh. Illness and death become ordinary. Years pass and nobody can go back. The film shows that system without dressing it up. Atharvaa Murali and Sai Dhanshika appear in the one hundred twenty six minute film, an Indian production Bala finished in 2013.