Ebong Bewarish (and the Unclaimed) (2013)

On February 21, 2011, two young girls committed suicide together in Nandigram, one of the interior villages in West Bengal. As the story unfolded we came to know of their love affair, and non-acceptance of the village community as well as their families. To deal with 'abnormal' relationship, one of the girls was married off in a haste. Under the societal pressure, the two girls committed suicide. But their death did not end societal non-acceptance. After their death their bodies lay in the police morgue for several days unclaimed by their families. One of the girls left a letter telling their story of love and loathing and asking their parents to cremate them together. The parents rejected their wish and the unclaimed bodies were disposed off by the police, unattended, uncared for. Debalina's film "... ebang bewarish"("...and the unclaimed"), talks about these two unclaimed dead bodies and many more dead and living ones. The central question being non-acceptance of non-normative persons, the film brings out pain and desolation of such persons who are 'unclaimed' by their loved ones and by the society at large. Four protagonists narrate their stories of living as misfits. The film explores the connection of these tales of living persons with the dead ones.