This film is a a harrowing tale about the cultural divide in Kerala, a troubled province located on India’s picturesque Malabar coast, When The Woods Bloom reveals that all is not what it seems. Despite being the country’s most advanced city with 100 percent literacy and world-class health care systems in place, it is not without its deep-rooted monumental issues and dangerous conflicts.The film is written and directed by Bijukumar Damodaran, also known as Dr. Biju, an Indian homeopathic doctor turned film director and screenwriter. He is best known for films such as Saira (2005), Veettilekkulla Vazhi (2010), Akasathinte Niram (2012), Perariyathavar (2013), and Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal (2016). When the Woods Bloom is about a battalion of police deployed by the Indian government to rid the country of a left wing organization, a Maoist group in a tribal village situated in the vicinity of a forest. Against the local teachers’ wishes, police make their base in the primary school where they work. One of the police officers (Indrajith Sukumaran) is sent into the jungle to follow the chief of this radical organization. Intending to arrest the rebel, he is shocked to discover that the ‘criminal’ he is in pursuit of is a woman (Rima Kallingal). No longer in a position of power, the policeman is helplessly lost in the wilds of the jungle and needs his ‘prisoner’ to guide him back into civilization. Eventually they form an unlikely bond.The Indian Government arrested many activists in the past with Maoist ideologies or who were deemed Maoist sympathizers. Today the high court of Kerala has decreed that  it is no longer a criminal offense to be a Maoist or to have Maoist links.This thought provoking film touches on themes of tolerance and is indeed a timely one in today’s society.