Prabhat Raghunandan

An impoverished Dalit couple from rural India hits the headlines when it is exposed that they have sold their child. The couple acquires national infamy. An embarrassed minister deputes a local government officer to investigate the case. Despite a painful truth, the child is restored to her mother, and the accused is jailed for illegal trafficking. But that is not really the solution. The aftermath is the failure of humanity.

Every morning, eight-year-old Nadi wanders somewhere between the conscious and the unconscious, to meet her dream-etched Shadow Bird. A second character unfailingly follows—the mysterious Timekeeper, who has a clock fitted inside his heart. But one morning neither Shadow Bird nor Timekeeper arrive, and Nadi ventures alone into the deep, mysterious woods in search of them.

The film is about faith in the fundamental goodness of mother nature and humanity. The lotus of the conscience blooms only when it is connected with mother nature and with one’s inner nature, the soul. The protagonist (Saraswati) is a symbol of mother nature, who is vast, filled with love, has indomitable power to accept, is full of the spirit of giving and therefore, even the insensitive and indulgent acts of society cannot destroy the tenderness and simplicity she has.