GODAVARI

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GODAVARI

By Nikhil MAHAJAN

SPAFAX UK - as BUYER REP

Drama - Completed 2021

- Year of production
- 2021
- Genres
- Drama
- Countries
- INDIA
- Duration
- 115 mn
- Director(s)
- Nikhil MAHAJAN
- Synopsis
- Nashik is one of the oldest cities in India. Settled along the banks of the river Godavari, it is a city steeped in religion and family values. The river Godavari is referred to as the Ganges of the south. It originates near Nashik and goes south of India. The banks of Godavari in Nashik hold tremendous importance in Hindu culture because this is where all last rites are conducted for a big population of western/southern India. The ashes of the dead are also immersed in the Godavari at Nashik as it is believed that those immersed here shall gain nirvana.
  
  Built on the facets of religion and by the river - Nashik has also expanded into a big city with time. The old town is now being rapidly restructured for the growing population. It is still full of old, dilapidated multi storeyed houses that are a standing testament to the glory of this city.
  
  In short, Nashik is an odd mix of old and new, of life and death, of religion and spirituality.
  
  GODAVARI is a story that combines all these elements together.
  
  It is the story of one NISHIKANT DESHMUKH - who lives by the banks of the river, in an old mansion and his family. Through generations NISHI and his family have been rent collectors. They own a lot of property around the old part of town. While his grandfather, NAROPANT, is now suffering from dementia, and his father NILKANTH, has chosen to forget.
  
  At the end of his bloodline, NISHIKANT is frustrated with his life. He hates the ways of the old town, he hates the insignificance of his life, he hates that he has been incapable - but like most Indian men, he chooses to internalise his hatred and blame it on factors like tenants and the town that are only incidental, if not entirely faultless. NISHIKANT collects rent and plays video games in his small apartment far away from the river. He has moved out of his family mansion, leaving his wife and daughter to live with his parents. He spends his time being angry at the river and everything it brings with it. He knows he is lost cause.
  
  However, life and death have always coincided, coalesced seamlessly into each other and that amalgamation feels even more palpable in the town where one person’s death is a way of living for so many.
  
  NISHIKANT discovers that he is terminally ill with only a few months to live. He wants to make amends, and practical ones - wants to ensure that his family is taken care of. To do so, he joins hands with a construction company which will take over one of his old properties in order to build a towering residential complex. This decision of his is however met with disapproval at home which leads NISHI down a path of self realisation. His state of mind moves from angry, to sad, to happy to eventually peaceful as he makes amends with death and in the process, life itself. GODAVARI speaks of relationships between parents and children, husbands and wives, rivers and men.