Gaami, as the title goes, is the story of a seeker. We meet Shankar, who is in the thrall of a rare condition. He lives at the Aghora Ashram but gets cornered by the sadhus. His thatched hut is set on fire by them to drive him away from the place. But why have the aghoris turned against Shankar? Let’s find out.
Spoilers Ahead
Why do the aghoris want Shankar to leave?
At the Aghora Ashram in Haridwar, Shankar is accused of turning deviant by its leader. He calls Shankar a burden who has been cursed by Lord Mahadeva. Shankar’s cursed life is, in a way, bringing a bad name and bad luck to the ashram. The leader proclaims that they have been tolerant of Shankar for too long, on account of him being a disciple of a prominent sadhu, Mahaguru Kedar Baba. However, Shankar does not remember anything about his past life, not even Kedar Baba.
While the entire tribe turns against him, one sadhu, Sudhama, pleads with the leader to give Shankar one chance before he is finally turned away. Shankar’s future will be decided over a game of bamboo stick fighting. As the fight goes on, Shankar’s opponent, Ravana, casts aside his bamboo rod, knowing fully well that Shankar will be forced to drop his too. We learn that Shankar is extremely sensitive to human touch. The slightest touch would cause his body to lose vigor, grow blue, and turn lifeless. After Shankar falls unconscious, the other aghoris drag him out of the ring and direct him to move away. Sudhama seems to be the only one who empathizes with Shankar. Shankar’s inability to remember anything from his past life bewilders him. Sudhama advises him to pursue Guru Kedar Nath, who brought him to the ashram fifteen years ago. At Sudhama’s insistence, Shankar sets off to find Kedar Nath at the Kumbh Mela of Prayagraj.
What is happening inside the illegal medical facility on the Indo-China border?
A young boy has been held hostage for an illegal medical experiment. The subjects, all orphans, have been collected from all parts of India and undergo subhuman procedures inside the facility. With nobody to raise the alarm over the exploitative measures taken by the medical facility, the orphans make for the best subjects. Headed by Dr. Bakshi, researcher Tara uses the boy as a subject for a conversion therapy which requires him to grow aversive to voyeuristic pleasure derived from looking at female bodies. As the Chinese medical chief agitatedly demands a speedy result, Bakshi offers to perform a lobotomy to get the desired results. When the boy tries to run away, Bakshi catches him and throws him into a solitary cell. An argument breaks out between Tara and Bakshi as the latter sets a deadline for the conversion therapy method to work.
Will Shankar find Kedar Baba in Prayagraj?
Shankar’s desperate search for his guru yields no result. He roams from place to place, asking every person he meets, but nothing points to any sign of Kedar Baba’s existence. Finally, he finds a torn, shabby poster of Kedar Baba’s Ayurveda Shala. At the tent, he finds a man who introduces himself as a disciple of Kedar Baba. He reveals that the guru had passed away two years back at a Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas. However, hoping that Shankar would someday turn up at the Ayurveda shala looking for him, Guru Kedarnath had left him a bamboo scroll. The disciple advises Shankar to leave for the Himalayas, where a rare bioluminescent mushroom will bloom in the next fifteen days. A once-in-thirty-six-years phenomenon, consuming the mushroom will heal Shankar’s rare condition. The mushrooms also have healing powers to most mental ailments. Shankar falls into a trance and sees the boy that we see in the illegal medical facility. The boy tries to talk him out of the decision to embark on this dangerous journey.
Who is Uma, and why is she forced into being a devadasi?
Parallel to the stories of Shankar and the other young boy, the film presents us with the story of Uma. In Southern India, Uma, a little girl, is born into hardship as her mother ‘serves’ as a devadasi. Soon, Uma finds out that her mother, Durga, willingly sacrificed herself after she was able to birth a healthy child despite her birth complications. As the village head finds out that Durga is sick and will not be able to continue with her role as a devadasi, he is interested in employing the little Uma. After Durga dies, Uma tries to escape with the help of some kind villagers. But the village head and his men nab her and put her into the same hell as her mother.
Why does the village head insist on burning Uma?
One night, after she is pushed into a room with an elderly man, Uma falls unconscious as the man runs away. The furor causes the doctor to examine Uma. The village head is shocked and ashamed that he has been living a lie all this while regarding Uma’s gender. That night, they find out that Uma has been a boy all along, who has been raised as a girl. The head’s son explains that Uma suffers from a rare genetic condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia. It is difficult to determine whether the child is a biological male or female until they reach a mature age. The priest was shocked to see Uma ‘turning’ into a boy when in actual fact she has been a boy all along. Uma’s condition makes her an appropriate subject for a medical experiment at the C.A.T. facility. When the village attempts to dispose of the girl, the doctor willingly accepts her and transports her to the facility.Â
How are Shankar, the young boy, and Uma related?
Throughout Gaami, Shankar is plagued by sightings of Uma and the young boy calling for help. Shankar has no definite answer to the identities of the children. He does not even remember anything from his past life. In the end, we realize that Uma and the young boy are one individual. Their stories are the childhood incidents of Shankar. Shankar’s present condition is the result of the botched conversion therapy, which was primarily meant to turn him into a girl. Instead, his state has been altered completely, and he has been turned into a haphephobic.
