1000 Rupee Note

“When the goddess of wealth comes, she brings trouble with her, too.” And so it unfolds in Phulambri, a village in India’s Maharashtra state struggling to maintain its gentle rhythms and traditions in the face of endemic corruption. Lonely widow Budhi–distraught since her farmer son, drowning in debt, took his own life–has nonetheless found comfort and balance among her fellow villagers. Most of them are as poor as she is, but unfailingly generous with whatever they have, be it goat’s milk for tea or freshly baked fluffy bread in the morning. That delicate balance is upended the moment a politician shoves a 1,000-rupee note into Budhi’s hands at a campaign rally, setting off a chain of events that will take her to the brink of despair and back again. With a Technicolor palette and buoyant original songs, this deeply humanistic morality tale is a feast for the eyes, ears, and brain, and lingers long after the credits roll. NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

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