Joram opens with idyllic images of Dasru and Vaano living happily in Jharkhand, Eastern India, but soon cuts to the same couple, five years later, barely surviving as construction workers in Mumbai and living with their three-month-old daughter, Joram. One day, after meeting Karma, a female politician from their hometown, Dasru is attacked by thugs. He kills his attacker in defense and finds himself on the run with his baby. The Mumbai police officer Bagul chases Dasru to Jharkhand, where he encounters protesters who are fighting against the reality of farmers becoming impoverished and the land and rivers ravaged due to the collusion between a steel company and the government. Known for such socially-engaged films as Ajji (2017) and Bhonsle (2018), which garnered attention at BIFF and other prestigious film festivals, Devashish Makhija paints a compelling story about a community and an individual’s aspirations crushed under the weight of the greed of power and capital, and a struggle where no one emerges as a victor. (CHOI Eun)