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Of death and resurrection

There is this woman, Sujata Chatterji, trundling daily between her home and her bank job in Calcutta -- upper class, traditional, a little complacent about things... After all, she has few worries: her children have already grown up and are on the verge on settling down themselves.

And she continues her conventional ways till, one day, she is told to collect from the morgue the body of her favourite son, her youngest, Brati, now renamed Corpse Number 1084.

Her son was part of the Naxalbari movement, begun in Bengal's Naxalbari region to get minimum wages for agricultural workers, and which soon spread to other areas, including Calcutta.

Bewildered and a little desperate to understand what drove a well-off, well brought up young man to insurrection, Sujata steps out of her shell and starts slowly exploring the world her son lived in. Bringing her in direct conflict with her own identity.

Her preoccupation with the past also upsets her family which would rather get on with their lives rather than dwell on Brati's life and beliefs, which are a bit of an embarrassment for them. But over time, Sujata's husband too changes over to her point of view, and joins her in the social activity that she finds meaningful now.

Hazaar Chaurasi ki Maa, though a trenchant political comment, is essentially about a journey of self-exploration. And self-discovery.