Jayaram Siddi, a twelve-year-old boy, lives in a village in Uttara Kannada, possessed by the spirit of his recently deceased grandpa, Rama Bantu Siddi. His working-class parents, Bhaskar Siddi and Yashoda Siddi, are worried and seek a solution from local black magicians and medicine men, which does not affect his condition. Jayaram keeps himself in his dream world that opens a shamanic path in front of him. He devises a plan to speak with his dead ancestors through the magical instruments he inherited from his grandfather. During the process, he loses his sanity by knowing the history of his ancestral life and the torture and misery they went through. He is caught up in the tangle of the intergenerational trauma of chattel slavery. Gradually, he loses his grip on the reality of his life. Jayaram drops out of school. ‘The Rhythm of Damam’ tells the struggles of Jayaram and his family to regain the balance of his life by returning to tribal rituals and Damam music, which is an integral part of his community’s cultural existence.