Uppena 2021

Set in 2002 in the coastal village of Uppada near Kakinada, Rayanam is an influential zamindar who will go to any length to safeguard his family’s honor. His daughter, Bebamma, a college student, is fiercely protected by him. He plots to build a shipping yard by razing fishermen’s houses along the coast. Aasi, the son of fisherman Jalayya, is a lower-caste Christian who falls head over heels for Bebamma. Bebamma also comes to care for Aasi after seeing him fight in the bazaar. Aasi begins to follow Bebamma daily as she travels to college on the bus, and when the bus breaks down, the driver asks Aasi to drop Bebamma off. The two start meeting daily at the beach and soon fall in love.

During the fishing season, no one is allowed to venture into the sea for over a month and a half. Bebamma asks Aasi to take her into the sea, and he agrees. The boat runs out of fuel, they get stranded, and they share a night of intimacy on the vessel. That same night, Rayanam orders the coast to be razed, but he is also worried that his daughter hasn’t returned home. He secretly meets Jalayya and asks him to find his missing daughter, offering to spare his own house in return. Jalayya discovers Bebamma and Aasi the next morning and admonishes Aasi, then returns Bebamma to her father but lies that she was found alone on the boat.

Determined to uncover Bebamma’s partner, Rayanam tracks him down when he finds a shirt in Bebamma’s wardrobe, and his men attack Aasi. In the clash at the village mela, Jalayya dies. The following day, Bebamma runs away from home and pleads to elope with Aasi. They board a train to Orissa, then travel to Kolkata and later to Gangtok, with Aasi taking odd jobs and Bebamma staying in a hostel as they begin living together.

Months pass. Rayanam has promised his sister that her son will marry Bebamma within six months, and when Bebamma is away, the family pretends she remains with him to protect the name and honor. Six months after eloping, Aasi promises to marry Bebamma and takes her to a railway station; there, Rayanam’s men kidnap Bebamma and bring her back. Bebamma confesses that she had sex with Aasi on the boat that night and pleads to be allowed to go. But Rayanam refuses, insisting he will never let his daughter marry a lower-caste man, which he calls a dishonor, and reveals that he had castrated Aasi and that Aasi’s father died of a heart stroke upon witnessing that. Yet Bebamma loves Aasi as a person, arguing that manhood is not defined by any organ but by a man’s character. Moved by her words, Rayanam lets her go, and Bebamma and Aasi are finally reunited.