Netflix has launched the trailer for Navarasa, billed as a landmark achievement for the Tamil filmmaking community

Based on nine rasas or human emotions — anger, compassion, courage, disgust, fear, laughter, love, peace and wonder — this anthology of nine films is the coming together of the spectacular creative community of Tamil cinema, marking a larger than life cultural moment for the entertainment industry in India.

What’s more impressive is many leading icons of the industry graciously offered their services pro-bono contributing the proceeds from the films towards the well-being of film workers in Tamil cinema impacted by the pandemic. The directors in question are Arvind Swami, Bejoy Nambiar, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Karthik Subbaraj, Karthick Naren, Priyadarshan, Rathindran R Prasad, Sarjun and Vasanth S Sai.

The project is led by two figures well-known in the Indian entertainment industry: Mani Ratnam and Jayendra Panchapakesan, who sum up the project as follows:

Emotions may be momentary but some of those moments stay with us for life. Emotions are part of every day of our life and yet some of these can change the course of our lives. This is what makes Navarasa interesting. Though at most times there are more than one emotion in play, often it is one that takes control of our mind and soul and spurs us into action…

You can learn more about Navarasa in the Netflix announcement, including some of the cast details. There’s also a trailer, which we encourage you to watch. It arrives on Netflix on August 6.