VANAPRASTHAM, THE LAST DANCE Official Selection

According to Indian scriptures, a man’s life is divided into stages. After a student life and a family life, one takes up ‘Vanaprastham,’ learning the renunciation of material attachments. A tense and powerful story of passion and betrayal directed by one of India’s greatest cinematographers, VANAPRASTHAM, THE LAST DANCE explores the nature of man and the role he enacts within society.

Kunhikuttan is born to a difficult life in 1930s Southern India, fatherless in a world of servitude. At age ten, however, he begins to learn Kathakali, a revered ancient art that combines pantomime, opera and dance. Eventually, he achieves success and fame. One night a beautiful, married society woman comes to see him perform. Unable to distinguish between the worlds of reality and fiction, and believing they are destined to be together, Subhadra falls in love with ‘Arjuna,’ the character Kunhikuttan portrays on stage. Their ardent affair comes to an abrupt end when Subhadra becomes pregnant and cuts him off, refusing to let him see his child. But Kunhikuttan will not be deterred easily…