Shyam Benegal

Jogamma is the widow of Brahmin Pandit Range Rao, and lives in a coastal village in Southern India along with her two married sons, Narsimha, who is married to Seethamma and has two sons; while Parasuram is married to Ansuya. Narsimha, who not only looks after the estate, but also works as a clerk, often ends up chiding Parsuram to do something proactive. A frustrated Parshuram, not able to bear the taunts of his family anymore decides to run away from home, but has an encounter with a Sage named Kondura, who is believed to be living under the sea for ions. Kondura bestows a boon upon him, asks him not to misuse it, and be a celibate. A disbelieving Parshuram returns home, finds out that Guru is yet another person who was granted the boon of finding water, even in arid areas, and asks him to help dig a well. Guru does help and water is discovered shortly thereafter. Parshuram claims that he can also converse with a Goddess in the local Mandir. Things change when the villagers realize that he is telling the truth, and in no time at all Parsuram himself becomes a sage in his own right. When the Goddess appears before him, she instructs him to re-build her temple, and he does so with the help of Zamindar Bhairavmoorthy, a cruel, self-centered man, who is known to have had many sexual relationships, including one with his sister-in-law, but is known to be impotent. His brother gave birth to a crippled boy, Venu, and passed away. Bhairav brought up Venu, educated him, but treats him with contempt, whips him frequently, gets him married to a good-looking, but poor woman named Parvati. With money coming in from Bhairav, the temple is built, however, the Goddess is unhappy and tells Parsuram that sin is flourishing in this village. It is then that Parvati becomes pregnant, and everyone believes that Bhairav has overcome his impotence and is the father. Believing Bhairav to be behind all sins in this village, Parsuram sets about to reverse this, and manages to fool Parvati to drink a concoction, the very boon that was granted by Kondura, that will make her abort this child. Shortly thereafter Parsuram finds out that Venu is the to-be father, and now guilt-ridden, he must find a way to reverse this, even if it means incurring the wrath of Kondura and the Goddess. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

A veterinarian, Dr. Rao, visits a village where he intends to commence a cooperative society dairy for the betterment of the rural people.