India, May 24 -- Ruthvika Rao's The Fertile Earth is a beautifully narrated tale of cruelty, power imbalance, and love that brings to life Telangana's feudal past and the rise of both the CPI(ML) and Hindutva in the region in the 1960s.

Surendra Deshmukh lives with his family in a gadi, a traditional fortified mansion, that towers over the village in Irumi. As landlords, the Deshmukhs' "authority. and their power over the lives of those who lived in Irumi was absolute." Surendra has two nieces, Vijaya, a pre-teen girl, and four-year-old Sree. Their mother showers Sree with love and despises Vijaya, who assumes this hatred is because she is dark skinned while Sree is pale. As a result, Vijaya dislikes her sibling. Sree, unaware of this dy...