Exploring the Threads of Agrarian Culture in India: A Socio-agrarian Study of Kadaisi Vivasayi (2022)

The present article intends to establish a correlation between organic farming and the organic way of life in the twenty-first century. The primary text for the present quest, Kadaisi Vivasayi [The Last Farmer] (2022), is a cinematic representation of a peasant in a village near Usilampatti town who follows the organic method of farming. Drawing on the proposition that farming cannot be reduced to a mere profession but is a way of life for the majority of people involved in it, the article will establish a parallel with One Straw Revolution (1975)— a book on the virtue of organic farming, written by Japanese farmer and agrarian thinker Masanobu Fukuoka (1913-2008). The film under discussion is set amidst an agrarian crisis. In this particular space, the soil is polluted, and the rain is irregular. Which leads most of the farmers into selling their lands and getting involved in other occupations. Mayandi, the protagonist of the film, remains intact with his profession and becomes the last hope to continue the rituals of farming in the village. The article also takes upon the task of comparing the situation of the agriculturists in the film to the agriculturists of contemporary India. Furthermore, the article tries to show how the process of farming is not only a physiological but also a psychological process for the people involved in it.