Prabha, a troubled and troublesome young man, has died under mysterious circumstances. Stunned and emotionally numb, Prabha’s mother Santhi, paternal uncle Sellam, cousins Dinesh and Mugil, and other members of the extended family go through the motions, preparing for a 16-day-long funeral that culminates in a feast. Who was Prabha? What does his loss mean to his community? Raw, unflinching and throbbing with abrasive energy, Gowtham’s bracing fictional debut weaves through a dozen characters who embody different ways of grappling with a violent breach in the social fabric. Their frenetic activity, hot-headed exchanges and delayed reflections together paint an expansive, at times absurd portrait of human nature. With an anthropologist’s eye, the filmmaker traces the complexities of bereavement, examining the ways in which grief manifests in the most unexpected moments and objects. Embracing men and women as they are, with their mad outpourings, sordid habits, abusive love, misplaced pride and casual cruelty, <em class="film">Members of the Problematic Family</em> is a work of deep and uncompromising humanism.