Karparaa

Cinematographer Vignesh Kumulai returns to IFFR with his directorial debut, Karparaa, after the world premiere of Tiger Award-winner Pebbles (IFFR 2021). Karparaa is an intense, austere generational drama set in rural Tamil Nadu in Southern India. An elderly bedridden couple lives apart under the care of different families. Their daily needs are attended to by begrudging children and grandchildren, who would rather be busy with their smartphones on lazy summer afternoons. Days pass, seasons come and go, and the couple bides its time.

The story of filial neglect has been told countless times since Tokyo Story (1953), particularly in family-oriented Indian cinema. But Kumulai’s durational film radically simplifies the premise, eliminating its didacticism and melodramatic excess in order to capture modest, truthful vignettes from everyday life. With a gently drifting camera, it pores over time-worn faces, textured landscapes and flourishing animal life with equal care and attention, rendering them all part of the same ecosystem.

Measured in pace and rich in atmosphere, Karparaa shows the cruelty of grown-up children chafing under unwanted responsibility and the plight of aged parents losing their dignity and autonomy. Still, instead of milking these tensions for sentiment, it couches them within inevitable cycles of nature. Through its gradual accumulation of moods, the film reaches a quietly devastating emotional pitch.

– Srikanth Srinivasan