Dhoolpet Ganesha (2018)

• 69%
• 2018
• Documentary
• Anantha Perumal

During the 9-day festival of Lord Ganesha - the elephant headed Hindu God of prosperity, the filmmaker stumbles upon a community of working class people in the margins of the city of Hyderabad, as randomly as they chance upon a black idol of Ganesha. Through this chance encounter emerges a story of the community, which, drenched in the aura of festivities, must find a way to wade through inevitable financial crunches, personal disputes and the larger unanticipated ordeals of equipment malfunctions, disinterested alcoholics and harsh weather, to throw the best Ganesha festival in town. The idol, centrally located in the community, becomes a hotbed for endless gossip, banter and communal activity, unravelling a myriad of narratives, each unwittingly tapping into larger politics of skin color, gender and caste, the economics of religion and the humanness of their God.