A searing tale that will stay with you

KADVI HAWA Direction: Nila Madhab Panda Actors: Sanjai Mishra, Tillotama Shaome, Ranvir Shorey Rating:

This is a film populated by people who live on the periphery of our world — farmers bowed by debt; villages with shockingly high suicide rates, parents who cannot feed their children.

Based in a Bundelkhand village where it hasn’t rained for 15 years, Kadvi Hawa is the story of a blind, old man (Sanjai Mishra) who lives in perpetual fear that his hopelessly indebted son Mukund (Bhupesh Singh) will commit suicide.

His personal Yamdoot is Gunu Babu (Ranvir Shorey), a loan recovery agent who visits the village annually. “Tum jab bhi yahaan aate ho, chaar-paanch logo ki zindagi saath le jaate ho,” the old man says to him, explaining why he has earned the tag of ‘God of Death’.

But Gunu Babu is not as black-hearted as the villagers think; he is battling demons too. After losing his father and his house to a cyclone in Odisha, he has to earn enough in commissions to support his family in their flood-prone village.

The old man and the agent enter into an unholy alliance to save both their families. The former provides vital information about the farmers to help the loan recovery agent extract as much money as possible. In return, a share of the commissions is credited to Mukund’s account.

Director Nila Madhab Panda is best known for I Am Kalam but has made a number of documentaries on environmental issues — Kaun Kitne Paani Mein tackled water scarcity, Jalpari was about female foeticide. With Kadvi Hawa, he takes on the larger issue of climate change and its staggering human cost.

Mishra is superb as the helpless blind farmer who slowly transforms into a menacing harbinger of doom. Ranvir is a perfect fit for his character.

The dark humour is effective and makes you gasp as often as laugh; the climax will give you goosebumps. This is a film that will stay with you.