Gaami (Seeker)



Aghoras of a secluded Ashram condemn Shankar, an amnesiac Aghora with homophobia, who was dropped off at the Ashram as a teen by an admired Aghora Kedar Baba, to banishment, as they misconstrue his phobia to be a curse set on by him by Lord Shiva, asking him to repay his karmic debt. Sudama, an empathetic Ashramite, instructs Shankar to seek the cure from Kedar Baba, who was last seen at Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj. Shankar sets out to meet Kedar Baba but chances upon his disciple, who notifies Shankar of Kedar Baba's death but having been acquainted with his problem, suggests Shankar acquire Maalipatram, an exceptional bioluminescent mushroom endowed with medicinal capabilities, found in a cave of Dunagiri, deep inside the Himalayas, to cure his condition and informs him that the plant would be potent in rehabilitating him only once every 36 years and gives him a deadline of 15 days to find it. Jahnavi, a doctor invested in a research trip on the maalipatram, accompanies him to the Himalayas.

Meanwhile, Durga, a Devadasi in a remote village in Southern India, is stripped of her duties to God, owing to her terminal illness. She hopes to spend the rest of her life with her daughter, Uma, who is averse to Durga's persistent attempts, hating her for abandoning her soon after her birth. Nevertheless, when Uma discovers that Durga took the solemn vow as a Devadasi to ensure Uma's birth safely and soundly as her delivery seemed complicated, she reciprocates her mother's love for her and implores her to never leave her. Elsewhere, in C.A.T, an illegal medical facility, CT-333, a troubled subject, is forced to undergo conversion therapy;. At the same time, Tara, research assistant to Dr. Bakshi, the chief, is determined to accomplish the task through electrocution, Dr. Bakshi is hell-bent on performing lobotomy, despite being aware of its absurd side effects, and sets a target time for Tara to achieve the result through her way.

One day, an inmate falls into CT-333's cell through the ceiling; disclosing that he had worked as a research assistant under Bakshi and that he was confined for trying to expose the facility's illicit experiments, he hatches a plan to escape and takes CT. He takesistance in digging an underground tunnel. Shankar, who, while experiencing distressing dreams and hallucinations of CT-333 seeking help and a comforting touch, realizes that his journey is arduous and gives up while Jahnavi proceeds and gets trapped inside a frozen lake. He rescues her and discovers her noble intentions behind seeking the maalipatram: she desires to find a cure for mental traumas. In the meantime, while Durga and Uma share cherishing moments, the village's chieftain plots to make Uma the new Devadasi, believing that the village is undergoing turmoil due to the absence of one. Against it, Durga formulates a plan to escape from the village with Uma. However, she succumbs to her illness, and a mourning Uma is forced to flee; an acquaintance helps her board a bus to the town, but Durga's contriving sister finds her and takes her to the chieftain, who violently makes her the new Devadasi. Shankar and Jahnavi fall off a cliff; a Buddhist monk rescues and heals him, but tells him that Jahnavi might be dead. Uma, having become the Devadasi in times when the Devadasis were commonly associated with prostitution, is forced to serve men, who approach Devadasis with superstitious beliefs.

During her first such encounter, a man freaks out on seeing Uma on her first night as the Devadasi and the chieftain uncovers something shocking and embarrassing about her; he conspires to murder her but sells her off to his son's friend, a reputed agent working in C.A.T, who hopes to use her as a lab rat for a certain experiment. CT-333's plan to escape with the inmate fails and they are captured; while the inmate dies, CT-333 is subjected to electrocution, this time on his genitals. The system overloads and he continues to receive electrocution even when Tara orders the assistants to desist; as soon as she switches the system off, she ponders over the incongruous result and informs Bakshi, who decides to perform the lobotomy. CT-333, nonetheless, hides in a barrel to escape but he is taken to a freezing chamber and he loses his senses due to frostbite. The Buddhist monk, elsewhere, illuminates Shankar to solve the problems of CT-333 and Uma, on discovering that he frequently has illusions of them seeking help and implies that he might be connected to them by karma. As Shankar sets out to help them having failed to find the maalipatram, a lion pounces on him and he hides inside a cave; he finds a sickle and digs another way out.

Simultaneously, CT-333 manages to escape the facility, but Bakshi dispatches a pack of wolves outside upon discovering that he has escaped, while Uma is taken to the facility. Kedar Baba rescues CT-333 from the wolves, revealing that the latter, Uma, CT-333, and Shankar are the same person. Uma is diagnosed with  congenital adrenal hyperplasia ;on that fateful night by the chieftain's son and his friend. Though born with female characteristics, she grows up to have the characteristics of a man. The agent of C.A.T deems her perfect for the experiment, given that she is intersex and C.A.T hopes to suppress her primary and secondary sex characteristics by electrocuting her, to ultimately convert her into a woman. Thus, Uma grows up to be CT-333, who becomes amnesiac and homophobic after the last electrocution that went wrong. As Shankar remembers his past, he attempts suicide out of agony, but soon remembers Durga's uplifting words and proceeds towards the blooming maalipatram he sees in a cave of an adjacent mountain and realizes that the day is the prescribed one to consume it. As the lion chases him, he jumps towards another cliff and subdues it.

He consumes the maalipatram on time and once again falls off the cliff due to his scuffle with the lion. As he wakes up on the banks of a lake, he stumbles upon Jahnavi, who has survived the fall, and touches her, revealing that he is cured of his phobia. As he, overwhelmed, lays in her arms, experiencing her motherly touch, the scene fades to Uma holding on to Durga in a similar way.

 

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