The PoojariŽs Daughter opens with flashbacks to South Indian priestess Rajathiammal “cutting the goat” and having her head ritually shorn. The year is 2001, the place, Madurai, Tamilnadu. These two moments fulfil the two most profound wishes of the priestess: to be filmed while performing the annual goat sacrifice to the Saivite god Paandi that was once carried out by her father, and to renounce family life altogether. Using experimental film techniques that recall the work of Trinh Minh Ha, The Poojari's Daughter weaves dramatic footage of these rituals and of temple life at Paandi Kooyil with Rajathiammal's moving account of her process, interviews with close relatives, and brief voiceovers by the filmmaker. Together, these create a vivid and unforgettably intimate portrait of the devotional worlds of this remarkable woman and of South Indian Hinduism.
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