Malai
Sarmistha Maiti, Rajdeep Paul
India.  14 min.  2018

A low-caste rural boy from interior India goes to attend the local political leader’s son’s wedding, along with his mother and two siblings, excited at the prospect of having a grand meal, especially his favourite ice-cream, referred to as ‘Malai’ in the local tongue. But he instead discovers the dark side of the Great Indian Wedding – a wake-up to the harshness of the society and the saga of discrimination and exploitation of the weak, poor, low-caste, women and even children that continues in the name of tradition in our country even after nearly two decades in the new millennium. Relegated to doing manual labour for little money to entertain the rich and empowered people as they rejoice and celebrate the grand marriage ceremony, the family has to pay too great a price to earn too little – a little boy’s wish for an ice-cream.

RAJDEEP  PAUL