1Vishnu Ram S. 2Athira Krishnan & 3Malavika Sunil Karippara, PhD
1, 2Research Scholar, Department of Visual Communication, Kumaraguru College of Liberal Arts and Science, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
3Assistant Professor, Department of Visual Communication, Kumaraguru College of liberal Arts and Science, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21659/jsae/v3n1/v3n110
[Article History: Received: 15 April 2026. Accepted: 12 August 2026. Published: 05 September 2026]
Abstract
The ancient Indian concept of ‘karma’ has commonly been understood as an action, work, or deed and its consequences, ultimately referring to the principle of cause and effect. Furthermore, it lays stress on the intention behind these actions and their effects on one’s future in the current life. Although the larger belief regarding the concept is that, in its simplicity, it is limited to good deeds leading to good consequences and the opposite, some theories propose its manifestation in the environment surrounding the subject. It is the idea that the consequences of karma affect not only our tendencies but also our environment. This aligns with the notion of ethical choices creating chains of consequences that may be indirect, delayed, or displaced, which is proposed as moral causality. Despite scepticism about the topic, depictions can be seen in art, particularly in South Asian cinema. Thus, the present study examines two movies, Evil Does Not Exist (2023) and Eko (2025), which use environment-themed storytelling that portrays the karma of the ecological landscape in two diverse ways. The movies are selected through purposive sampling. The study employs the method of narrative analysis to examine the narratives of the movies, focusing on how the idea of karma is woven into the narratives and how it is portrayed to have causal relations with matters relating to the external environment and its well-being. The in-depth analysis will thus examine the narratives and subnarratives of the chosen movies and draw inferences from them.
Keywords: Karma, environment, morality, consequence, storytelling
