SYNOPSIS:

PRIEST is an English feature film that is aimed at global distribution. Adapted from Guy de Maupassant’s L’oliveraie (The Olive Grove), PRIEST is set in a Malaysian rubber plantation with local Tamil Hindu milieu as backdrop to the English-speaking main plot. Harish Chandra is a handsome and wealthy man of means in Kuala Lumpur who meets beautiful and seductive dancer Maya in friend Alex’s party. Harish falls instantly in love with Maya. Due to objections from Harish’s sister against their marriage Harish and Maya live as man and mistress. One day Harish finds some letters from Alex to Maya. He discovers that Maya has been having an affair with Alex. He goes into a mad rage. Harish hits her and throws her against the wall. Maya pleads for mercy and says that she is pregnant. Harish is horrified that she is carrying the symbol of his sinful and foolish life with her and intends to kill the unborn child. When Maya tells him that the child is not his but Alex’s Harish steps back. He chases Maya out of the house and goes into a depression. Harish leaves his house and wealth in Kuala Lumpur and wanders aimlessly through small towns with the memory of Maya’s betrayal haunting him. Tired and hungry, he faints on the beach close to a plantation where priest Kumaraguru Shastrigal is performing Hindu 16th day rites for a deceased. Shastrigal and assistant find Harish unconscious on the beach and take him home to the priest’s quarters adjoining the plantation temple. At the temple after lamenting many days in deep sorrow Harish finds solace in God and mends. When comes time for Kumaraguru Shastrigal to return to his homeland India, he makes Harish the temple’s priest and puts him in the trust of faithful servant Rasammah. Harish becomes known as Saamie (God or holy man) to the locals and they revere him. Some twenty years later a dirty, unkempt and uncouth young man arrives at the temple. He says that he is Priest Harish’s son. Priest Harish is shocked. When the son who has a strong resemblance to the priest produces on old photograph and a letter from Maya, Priest Harish realizes that Maya had lied about the child in her womb. Priest Harish takes son Harry for a walk in the plantation to talk in private. Harry tells the priest the he too was ironically named Harish. Priest Harish learns from Harry that Maya died of cancer three years ago. Harry reveals his past which is filled with violence, rape and murder. He says that he was released from prison 2 months earlier and has been searching for Priest Harish. On the way back to the priest’s quarters Harry sees a toddy (intoxicating coconut drink) shack and gets drunk. Back at the quarters, Priest Harish learns more of Harry’s despicable and vile nature. Harry relates with pride his violence against Alex who raised him for some years thinking that Harry was his son. In a quarrel over his share of property after Maya’s funeral, Harry turns violent on Alex. He carves his name on Alex’s back with a sharp letter opener. Still not satisfied with the torture on Alex, Harry rapes the man. Priest Harish is horrified and angry to think that this vile creature is his son. He tells Harry that he has to leave the plantation in the morning before anyone else sees him. Harry demands his share of his father’s wealth to which the priest says he will get none. Harry reaches for a knife on the dinner table and there is a tussle. The hurricane lamp illuminating the room crashes to the floor and throws the place into darkness. Rasammah rushes to the scene and discovers a pool of blood on the floor. She screams with fright and horror and summons the panchayat, the local guardians of law. The panchayat men find Priest Harish dead in a pool of blood with his throat slit. Harry, asleep against the wall in drunken stupor is arrested for the priest’s murder. What really happened and who is this stranger? These questions are echoed across the plantation as the locals lead Harry away. END