Vanaja

Vanaja, the 15-year-old daughter of an impoverished South Indian fisherman, is sent to work for the local landlady in hopes of learning the Kuchipudi dance. She excels at the art, and all is well until the landlady’s adult son returns home from the US. His eye falls on Vanaja, who insults him publicly. Matters escalate, and Vanaja is pitched into a maelstrom of class, family and animus from which there is only one escape.