Aakhri Buransh review: Migration and the haunting loss of a home reverberate in this understated film

Yashasvi Juyal’s Pahadi-language short film Aakhri Buransh (The Last Rhododendron) delves into the generational relationship with one’s home in the village, examining themes of migration and the loss of a home.

Set in a village in Uttarakhand, Aakhri Buransh tells the story of a mother and daughter that echoes throughout the land. As the young daughter, Mamta, makes preparations to go to the city for her education, her mother is haunted by the thought of being left behind where she is part of an almost ghost village, where everyone has migrated to urban centres.

The short film captures the predicament of people of different generations in rural areas, where the young are lured by brighter future prospects and employment to urban areas, while the older generation is tied to the land and must work hard to earn their daily living. The film is reflective of the attitude amongst the young generation to not follow agriculture as an occupation, thus leaving entire villages empty.

Juyal skilfully uses the conversation between two women working in the field to depict a range of societal attitudes towards young people migrating to the city, the misgivings and the loneliness of the older generation, and rural livelihoods being severely threatened by climate change. In a particularly haunting sequence, we see image upon image of abandoned homes left behind, carrying only a trace of memory of its inhabitants. Adopting a slow, contemplative style, the filmmaker evokes the pace of village life, reflecting the thought processes and mood of both Mamta and her mother as they consider their respective futures.

Aakhri Buransh won the Film Critics Guild DIFF Gender Sensitivity Award at the Dharamshala International Film Festival 2021, jointly along with Devashish Makhija’s Cheepatakadumpa.

The film was screened virtually at Beyond Borders: A Feminist Film Festival.