Leaving home is different for Renu, a rural north India teenager. Can she fulfill her dreams and become a teacher and live in the big city? India's 1.2 billion people mostly live in rural villages. 'Leaving Home' focuses on Renu and her coming of age in one village. The film is about women's rights, rural life, India, castes, untouchables, marriage, weddings, family, motherhood, fatherhood--tradition and change. Michael Mahar, a colorful American anthropologist, has intermittently lived in Rankhandi over a half-century. Our guide and story teller, he has seen the village move from the 18th to the 20th century before his eyes. Nishu Varma, journalist and our interpreter, talks with women with no men present, and has revealing conversations never before in a film.
