The Slow Man and His Raft

Set in rural Bengal, Pradipta Bhattacharyya’s contemplative drama about the human condition, The Slow Man and His Raft, centres on Nadhar, a motion-impaired, middle-aged man, “slower than a sloth”, who is swept into a touring circus following the death of his caregiving mother. Nadhar is something of a relic, a slow man stranded in a frantic, productive society. For those around him, his slowness can at best serve as a derisory spectacle. An expansive meditation on human nature, slowness and being profoundly out of step with the world. Set in rural Bengal, Pradipta Bhattacharyya’s contemplative drama about the human condition, The Slow Man and His Raft, centres on Nadhar, a motion-impaired, middle-aged man, “slower than a sloth”, who is swept into a touring circus following the death of his caregiving mother. Nadhar is something of a relic, a slow man stranded in a frantic, productive society. For those around him, his slowness can at best serve as a derisory spectacle. An expansive meditation on human nature, slowness and being profoundly out of step with the world.