Ashok Vatika (2018)

In Hindu Mythology, Ashok Vatika was the garden in Lanka where queen Sita was held captive by the king Ravana. She waited day and night, through harsh winters and scorching summers, through autumn and fall, for her husband Rama to rescue her. The landscape of the dark and gloomy garden surrounded by tall trees was like a cage in which Sita was trapped. In the present time, Shanvi, a young widow is stuck in a similar predicament in the claustrophobic environment in the holy city of Varanasi. She is a Bharatnatyam teacher, a mother to a young girl, an obeying daughter-in-law but most importantly, a widow who was married at the tender age of nineteen. Yearning for love and companionship, she craves for the affections of a man. One day she meets Eshan, a filmmaker, who is visiting the city. His unorthodox view on marriage and widows evokes the woman inside her to seek a more fulfilling life, away from the ancient traditions that dictate the life of widows.