Farkanti is a song-and-dance ritual performed after the death of a person among the Rabha tribe of Assam and Meghalaya. The purpose of the performance is to enliven the sorrowful atmosphere and to show reverence and respect to the departed soul.
Juleshwari Rabha, a singer in her seventies, is a traditional mourner and one of the few in the community to have preserved the Farkanti tradition of music and performance through her songs. As she grows older and meeker, she grapples with the inevitability of the extinction of traditional Rabha music.
Through music, the film explores the themes of life, death and folk culture as the artists find themselves at the crossroads of a rapidly transforming culture.