After enjoying so much the before-reviewed Jodhaa Akbar Dean decided to order another Indian film from Netflix — the suspenseful Eklavya (2007, Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign Film). No romance this, really — more like a drama of family secrets, betrayals and score-settlings that centers around the near-perfect loyalty of Eklavya, a royal guard, and his need to meet his dharma, his purpose in life, of protecting his king at any cost. Threats arise  both from low-caste farmers over land rights and from the king’s own extended family.

Amitabh Bachchan plays a loyal palace guard with a tortured soul in "Eklavya"

The word “dharma” comes from the word “hold.” According to my simplified understanding, one’s dharma represents a kind of supernatural hold on them. The dharma asserts a person’s place in the universe, and by holding to one’s dharma an individual is by extension “holding” everything together. Eklavya has dedicated his entire life to the purpose of a single dharma given him by his mother upon his father’s death — he is to defend his king at all costs, or, as she says, “nine generations of our family will burn in Hell.”

Now an old man, Eklavya’s sight is growing dim, so that his detractors begin to mock his ability to protect the king. But his hearing is as keen as ever. Blindfolded, he can throw a knife straight to its mark by listening alone.

The family which he serves has its own secret desires and acts of vengence, and a palace guard like Eklavya cannot hold himself apart. Long before the movie opened, he became entwined and entrapped within the intrigue — and now it seems he will have to sacrifice either his dharma or that earthly relationship which is most sacred to him.

Yes, there will be murders in this film — yes, people will have mixed character, so that at moments you will not know whether a person is good or bad. Scenes of the palace are both stirring for their beauty, and haunting when tales of the cruelty the building has sheltered arise — and, as in a good suspense film, vengeance will be taken on the wrongdoers.