Trishna

Trishna (2011) is a British drama you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Michael Winterbottom. He transplants Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles from Victorian England to contemporary Rajasthan — same trap, different century, same cruel logic.

Freida Pinto plays Trishna, a young woman from a village outside Jaipur whose family collapses when her father is hurt in a crash. Jay, the English-raised son of a wealthy developer played by Riz Ahmed, offers work — then attention, then a relationship that slowly becomes something Trishna cannot leave and Jay refuses to name. Ahmed plays the role with an unnerving self-certainty: he's not a cartoon villain, which makes watching considerably harder.

Winterbottom shot entirely on location in Jaipur and Mumbai, and the vivid, crowded settings sharpen the sense of how completely alone Trishna is inside them. This is a film about economic dependency and the way it masquerades as love — quiet, unsparing, 117 minutes long. Stream Trishna (2011) online on iFILM.