The Way of a Wave (2018)

A struggling young man named Hari tries to commit suicide after his breakup, ends up in a hospital room where he encounter an elderly man named Thenkasi. Though he has an argument with Thenkasi about life and his keen decision to die, soon gets forced into a journey to meet nine laymen to say a 'thanks' and a gift pack each, in order to fulfill Thenkasi's last wish. Thus he meets a transgender mother, a fortune-teller, a Therukkothu folk artist, a schoolmaster, a paralysed silambam martial art guru, a sewage worker, a mad man living as a honey bee, a rural ceramic artist and a Srilankan fisherman, each representing one rasa of nava rasa (the nine emotions). With each meeting Hari gets reminded of his girlfriend in the same emotion and their story till the breakup. All the nine people indirectly share the vision of life to him and the last among the nine gift packs reaches Hari's hand itself. In the end Hari identifies Thenkasi as his own reflection and thus the value of a life. The film travels through the 5 thinais (geographies) that is the backbone of Tamil culture and life as well as 9 rasas (9 emotions), all in a positive way. The film was shot as an independent micro budget project done over a period of 12 months by a crew of just 2 members travelling from Chennai to Rameswaram (the southern tip of India towards Srilanka).