CWC Global: “Devastated” (Vidhvastha)

In Devastated (2024), a middle-aged policeman in present-day India opens up to his wife and lover about his work as a “sacrificial assistant,” a state-designated agent tasked with extrajudicial killings of Muslim men. Elsewhere in the city, Lord Krishna and the prince Arjuna enact a dialogue from the Bhagavad Gita. After being paralyzed during battle by unwillingness to kill his own relatives, Arjuna seeks the counsel of Krishna, who instructs him on the moral duty of a warrior. Avant-garde filmmaker Ashish Avikunthak uses images of animal sacrifice and ritual self-mortification, repeatedly intercut with the policeman’s defense of his killings, to raise questions about the hierarchy of violence and the nature of divinity.

Director Ashish Avikunthak and cinematographer Rumi (Pratyush Bhattacharyya) will join moderator Vivek Karthikeyan (Art, UCSB) for a post-screening discussion of Devastated.