In a rural landscape of Gujarat in India, the movie centres on the life of four women who talk about sex, life and men whilst battling with their personal demons.
Despite the appalling circumstances and events it depicts, the movie's plain and unstinting affection for its lead characters gives "Parched" a frequently buoyant tone.
"Parched" is vibrantly alive, full of color and light and movement and music. There is sex in this movie, and there is dancing, and there are vibrant fabrics and foods and fire. It's a dry place, but one ringed with beauty.
Thanks to attentive writing and sturdy performances, the director's characters are so compellingly realized that it's easy to succumb to the film's hopefulness.
You can see flashes of bawdy comedic brilliance sprinkled throughout Parched, an otherwise grim Indian drama about four women living in a male-dominated village.
Leena Yadav's third feature is a contemporary morality tale that critiques the often harsh treatment of women in the absence of egalitarian social norms.
A bright jewel of a film, surprisingly funny, fresh and upbeat in the way it takes on the complicated and often dark topic of sexual politics in rural India.
