Three lovers, haunted by a friend's suicide, find themselves in a web of dispassionate yearning, amidst a web of forsaken loves and imperfect expectations.

Dispassionate Love

Following the footsteps of Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot', two actor from Calcutta go to the largest gathering of humans on earth - the Hindu festival of Maha Kumbh of Allahabad in 2013, which occurs once in 12 years, to search for Kalki - the Tenth and the final avatar of Lord Vishnu. The most mysterious of Vishnu's Avatar who has been on earth but has never been found. However, an outbreak of a monumental war occurs during their quest. They then prepare themselves by reading Chairman Mao-se-Tung's 'Little Red Book'.

The Churning of Kalki

During social and political turmoil, what is the manifestation of divine intervention? How do the gods and goddesses act in the volatility of the contemporary world? If they walk on earth as men and women, how do they endure the chaos of modernity? Centering on the terrible and majestic incarnations of Goddess Kali and her celestial avatars, this film is a metaphysical contemplation in times of perpetual emergencies. Avikunthak’s remarkable sense of forms finds expression in the extraordinary combination of performance and essayistic cinematic practices.

The Kali of Emergency

In a parallel universe in our own space-time continuum, humanity has been overrun by artificial intelligence. The machines are better, faster and more efficient at everything, outstripping their makers. However, one aspect of humanity escapes them: love. Their guidebook attempts to capture the phenomenon in 64 terms, including jealousy, regret and ardour. Posing in homey and romantic settings, they run through the entire spectrum with digital precision, yet without a hint of passion.  Director Ashish Avikunthak outlines a worrying, yet confusing impression of a posthuman future in which technology has overtaken and annexed humanity. He presents the new masters of the universe as 2.0 versions of the Hindu pantheon. Yet while Hanuman, Shiva and Kali sometimes reveal all too human traits, this is definitely not the case when it comes to love. Loves dies out with humanity.

Glossary of Non-Human Love

In confrontational conversations with his wife and his lover, a middle-aged Indian policeman opens up about his work as a 'sacrificial assistant', a state-designated agent tasked with extra-judicial killings of Muslim men. Elsewhere in the city, Lord Krishna and the prince Arjuna enact a dialogue from the Bhagavad Gita. Paralysed into inaction during battle by human considerations, Arjuna seeks the counsel of Krishna, who instructs him on the moral duty of a warrior.