Kashi Labh | film trailer

Aesthetics of dying, coming together of family and the last vital breath in Kashi, India’s sacred city.

A video reflexive ethnography by Rajat Nayyar.

Kashi Labh is coming this July! It took more than 7 years of research that started with after death rituals and then before death rituals in Kashi. Nowhere we could locate the event of death, but always the inseparability of living/dying in a liminal space of interplay. Family dynamics at the end of life reflect wider cultural practices. Kashi Labh, the film, studies the experiences of families more broadly and how cultural forces are involved in the shaping of dying as a social and relational process.

We invite educational institutions, senior care facilities and everyone else to write to us requesting a film screening of Kashi Labh for their students and members. We will get back to you with the film link and we would be happy to facilitate a much needed conversation on dying and death. Write to us at espiritokashi@gmail.com. Follow @KashiLabh on Instagram for updates.

Big ups to Paola Cera Art for the film posters, she lives in Turin and is constantly always melting at Manikarnika. Grateful to my mentors who made this impossibility possible Kersti Uibo, Marje Ermel, Dr. Carlo A. Cubero, Dr. Anunaya Chaubey, Dr. Vijay Choubey, Dr. Jaak Herodes and all Kashi vasis.