Plot
In the village of Akolner, a pre-teen named Jambhuvant Kachru Mane, nicknamed Jabya (Somnath Awghade), lives in a makeshift house on the outskirts of a caste-segregated village with his parents and two older sisters (one a widow with a toddler). The family belongs to the Kaikadi community, an oppressed caste, and earns a living by doing menial jobs. Owing to the caste-ridden power structure of the village society, the boy's father has a fearful and submissive personality which is exploited by upper-caste villagers.
Jabya is disillusioned by the predicament of his family and shows interest in school where he has also fallen in one-sided love with a forward caste girl named Shalini, nicknamed Shalu (Rajeshwari Kharat), who he has never talked to but tries desperately to get her to notice him. He, along with his school friend Pirya (Suraj Pawar) and armed with a slingshot, spends time after school trying to catch a black sparrow in the wilderness. However, the bird call that punctuates the film is that of the red-wattled lapwing (titawi), which is supposed to bring bad luck. The black sparrow, with its distinctive forked tail, and the call of the red wattled lapwing occur repeatedly throughout the film.
Jabya also befriends a bicycle mechanic named Chankya (Nagraj Manjule) who sees his young self in the boy. Chankya had once married a wealthy, upper-caste girl, but she was soon forcefully taken away by her brother, who beat him very badly. Since then he has renounced family life and taken up refuge in spirituality, mysticism and liquor. Jabya seeks support from Chankya in his quest to obtain his love, which Chankya readily extends.
Back in the village, Jabya's family members comply as they are exploited and dehumanized by the villagers over and over again. A marriage proposal arrives for Jabya's sister and his father agrees to pay a ₹20,000 dowry to the groom's family, placing further financial stress on the family. He is eventually contracted to kill a pig that has been rampaging the village by its upper-caste members, who see it as a bad omen. This requires the help of the whole family, deeply embarrassing Jabya as they have to chase the pig in front of his classmates, including Shalu.
The embarrassment too much to bear, he hides in an alley, refusing to help his family. There, he finally spots the black sparrow, and his objective becomes clear: according to a local legend, it is believed that when the ash obtained by burning the black sparrow is sprinkled on someone, it hypnotizes them to fall in love with the person sprinkling it. The idea, however, is executed only in Jabya's dream—his father finds him and chases away the bird, then beats him publicly.
In the film's climax, the family catches the pig as they are jeered at and harassed. In the procession following immediately, the taunts and insults towards Jabya intensify, including calling him "fandry", meaning pig in the Kaikadi language. Generally composed up to this point, he finally explodes in rage, dropping the pig and starting to throw rocks at his oppressors. In the final shot of the film, he throws a rock directly at the camera, subtly breaking the fourth wall.
