The White Elephant

SYNOPSIS

Once upon a time in a little South Indian village called Prarthanakulam, there lived a holy elephant who was passed as a gift from one villager to the other every year on the day of the sacred festival. The villagers believe that they have been cursed due to the misadventures of their ancestors who indulged in the destruction of forests and poaching. And though the neighboring villages continue to participate in such activities, the villagers of Prarthanakulam have changed their ways all because of the holy elephant. As a penance for their past greed and to appease the deities, they now treat this elephant as they would a God.

Our story begins when Subri, the poorest and most humble villager accidentally acquires the elephant on the day of the festival. With a demanding wife and two children to take care of, this 'honour' is too much for Subri to take on and his life descends into turmoil from that day onwards.

Many envious eyes are cast on the elephant. An eccentric head priest of a neighboring village wants to own the elephant for it's Godly status. The priest and his incompetent tantrics try to put a spell on the elephant, then on Subri and eventually they try to hypnotise the entire village. In another neighboring village, the marijuana mistress wants to possess the elephant in order to boost her revenue. She and her goons attempt to kidnap the elephant in the most peculiar ways. Their attempts get more frantic, they continue to fail, and one day Subri makes a fatal mistake that could cost him his reputation, put the elephant in danger and obliterate his entire village.

A bond develops between Subri and the elephant but when Subri has no money left, he takes the elephant to a nearby logging area to work. When the logging queen's life changes due to the presence of the holy elephant, she is reluctant to return the elephant to Subri. She surreptitiously exchanges the holy elephant for one of her own and suddenly Subri's entire village starts to fall to pieces. The villagers soon realize that the elephant who is in their midst is an impostor and it is all Subri's fault. Subri has to bring the holy elephant back in order to win the trust of the village and the respect of his family…And he is determined to no longer be the worthless, ineffectual man that everyone thinks he is.