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Ijjodu is a 2010 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by M. S. Sathyu, and stars Meera Jasmine and Anirudh in the lead roles. Srivatsa, Nagkiran and Arundhati Jathakara feature in supporting roles. The film is a story of a young photo journalist's brief encounter with a girl who was made a ‘Basavi’ at the altar of the village deity, to save people who were hit by a devastating epidemic. ‘Basavi’ is a cult very similar to that of the ‘Devdasi’. At present the ‘Devdasies’ have become regular sex workers because of the social stigma and more so for making a living. Lots of them are victims HIV+.

Plot

The movie is based on story "Nanu Konda Hudugi" ("The Girl I Killed") by famous Kannada writer Ajjampur Sitaram ('Ananda').Story starts with Ananda, the protagonist specializes in photographing ancient monuments and writing about various rituals and customs that have gone unquestioned. During one of his sojourns in some remote area in Karnataka he comes across the strange case of a village girl ‘Chenni’ by name, daughter of the village Patel and gets obsessed by her very unusual life. In trying to explore more information about her he discovers that she is a victim of a blind faith. Being a ‘Basavi’ she has to treat any guest to her house as the arrival of God himself. Thus she offers him all the comforts of life and serves him in every possible way. This comes as a big shock to Ananda who belongs to an urban milieu. In spite of her seductive ways he resists from exploiting her. He is warned by a mad soldier, a victim of the most unpredictable happenings during a war not to have anything to do with this unfortunate girl and not to stay in that cursed house. The soldier was taken for dead in a bitter battle. His young and lonely wife remarries. But after many months on an obscure day the soldier returns to find his wife pregnant and married to another man. He losses his mental equilibrium and roams about the village in his desert camouflage. He keeps warning people who come to stay in the Patel’s house. He is very critical of the foolish Patel who sacrificed his only daughter at the altar of the village Deity. Epidemics and wars are similar in nature. In an epidemic a few die and many survive. The epidemic disappears. In a war two neighbors fight some die serving the country, some enemies also die for the sake of their home land. War comes to an end and people live in peace. Ananda does not take he mad soldier’s warning seriously. He wants him not to have anything to do with this unfortunate girl.