The film revolves around a dom — person who performs the last rites in a crematorium — played dramatically by Raghuveer Yadav and his mentally challenged daughter Bijuria (Shraddha Nigam).

They are on the verge of starvation and invariably have to sleep hungry every night. Except when a dead body arrives. That’s when the father and daughter get money, good food, new clothes and sweetmeats, if an old person dies.

It is thus not surprising that Budhai — as the dom is called — and daughter Bijuria have something to rejoice about when someone dies in the village. In fact, the naive young girl starts dancing ecstatically at the news of a death. A dead body translates into food and clothes.

Jeete (Milind Gunaji), a truck driver stops by for a drag at the chillum whenever he is passing the village. He is smitten by Bijuria and when Budhai proaches the subject, he agrees to marry her. When he is out on business ferrying material in his truck, he leaves Bijuria at her father’s place.

One day, a hungry Bijuria is sitting motionless with tears flowing down her eyes. Suddenly she hears chanting of prayers and a dead body coming to the crematorium. As if on a cue, she gets up and starts dancing. God has granted her wish. She won’t have to sleep hungry tonight.

Little does she realise that the body is that of her husband Jeete, who has been killed in an accident!

With a theme like that the film doesn’t even pretend to be entertaining. It is dark and morbid. But director Rajesh Seth deals with a difficult subject with conviction. And he has a lot to thank Yadav and Nigam for. These are not easy roles. They test an actor and demand versatility and faith in one’s calibre.

But they must be coming easy to both. Especially for Nigam, who played a similar role in Choodiyaan. The hard work she put into that role seems to be paying off now.

"It was a very powerful role. Yathharth’s director Rajesh Seth saw me in Choodiyaan and instantly decided I was the girl he was looking for to play Bijuria," says Shraddha.

For Raghuveer Yadav such roles have become a part of his oeuvre. Whether playing the husband of a gang-rape victim in Bawandar or a ‘cricketer’ in Lagaan or even a soldier in King Asoka’s army in Asoka, Yadav is on the wishlist of every serious filmmaker.

Right from his theatre days in Delhi, where he did plays with Shah Rukh Khan and Manoj Bajpai, Yadav has had a penchant for roles with substance. And he can deliver pathos and comedy with equal flair. In fact, he is still remembered and closely associated with the 1984 — his first — comedy serial on TV, Mungheri Lal Ke Haseen Sapne.

Not surprisingly, Yadav considers Lagaan his best performance. He still rues the fact that it got ignored at the Oscars. We were all shattered that our dream was not realised. We knew we had a winner on our hands, but then we lost in the finals," says Yadav.

Though he may not have a commercial winner on hand in Yathharth. Yadav knows that his role packs a punch and like every year in the last four years he could be once again in line for a National Award for playing the keeper of a crematorium. NF