Ashwatthama

On holiday from boarding school, young Ishvaku is fascinated by the bedtime story his mother relates to him—that of the warrior Ashwatthama, from the Mahabharata, whose blind vengeance provokes a curse from Lord Krishna, forcing him to wander the earth in eternal suffering. But the story is interrupted by a bandit raid in which Ishvaku’s mother is killed, and Ishvaku is packed off to his ancestral village in the Chambal Valley ravines of Central India. There he discovers a family in crisis, whose rituals, traditions and orthodox feudal values are becoming redundant. Meanwhile, Ishvaku’s own life take a strange turn, as a visiting sacred bull predicts that both wisdom and tragedy will soon come to him. In anticipation of such tragedy, Ishvaku attempts to escape into the magical realm of Ashwatthama

Directed by Pushpendra Singh, Ashwatthama leans on a strong ensemble — Aryan, Chitra sharma, Sangeeta Kumari — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about fantasy titles of 2017.