An outsider steps into a civilization which only catapults his unfortunate existence into a series of torture and hatred. In this riveting dystopian drama PARIAH, an outsider with unconventional traits emerges from a grim forest and finds himself on the fringes of an idyllic village, a seemingly thriving civilization. He ventures into the village for sustenance but is greeted with severe animosity from the inhabitants. Fueled by suspicion, the village despot resorts to weaving a web of paranoia and brands the outsider's presence as an “attack on our society and culture”. PARIAH takes viewers through a series of fateful events and eventually raises searing questions on the coexistence of humanity and the inane belief systems of a society. The debut feature by Writer-Director Riddhi Majumder is an ardent attempt to recreate a society where religious and political convictions tragically turn to mass hysteria.
"As a story this is simple – the innocent and the evil juxtaposed, the herd behavior of the people bowing to suspect authority, the sway of cult beliefs governing society. But, as in music, in which the lyric is often simple and near useless on the sheet, but soars when made music, Riddhi’s poetry emerges in the cinematic qualities of the film in concert with its grim content. The rich images, beautifully conceived and shot; the sharp cinematic sense of when to move the camera and how, where to place it. And then the non-professional actors carrying their roles in a strangely Bressonian sense but the opposite, often in near iconic imagery. They stand as “models” but emote as actors, shifting the terms of this film from a seeming “realism” to a parable, a Bengali variant of Catholicisms’ Stations of the Cross, except in this case there is no redemption, there is no resurrection, there is no hope."-Jon Jost