Tiger's Pond

A small-time businessman makes a play for a place on the village council in Natesh Hegde’s brooding and hushed crime thriller.

In a small town in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, businessman Prabhu is a big fish in a small pond. Fuelled by ambition and unhampered by ethics, Prabhu aspires to step into local politics, but there are obstacles in his path. A lower-caste candidate becomes a vocal opponent, and soon a young, non-verbal villager who tends Prabhu’s cattle is found to be pregnant.

Along with his conflicted right-hand man, Malabari, Prabhu sets out to combat the forces that threaten to derail his ambitions, taking them both down a dark path.

Curator’s Note

Shot on 16mm film with spookily patient camerawork, Natesh Hegde’s confidently paced drama is a simmering journey into the dark side of small village life. Corruption hides there, and dark secrets too, but within this microcosm where opportunities are limited, it’s ambition that seems to have most piqued the director’s interest. Who gets to progress within the caste system that relies on people sticking to their lane?

Tiger’s Pond premiered at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, where it was the first Kannada-language film to be selected.

– Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)