We present new CCD photometry of the distant old open star cluster Berkeley 32 in Johnson V and Cousins I passbands .
A total of \sim 3200 stars have been observed in a field of about 13 ^ { { } ^ { \prime } } \times 13 ^ { { } ^ { \prime } } .
The colour-magnitude diagram ( CMD ) in V, ( V - I ) has been generated down to V = 22 mag .
A broad but well defined main sequence is clearly visible .
Some blue stragglers , a well developed subgiant branch and a Red Clump are also seen .
By fitting isochrones to this CMD as well as to other CMDs available in the literature , and using the Red Clump location , the reddening , distance and age of the star cluster have been determined .
The cluster has a distance of \sim 3.3 kpc , its radius is about 2.4 pc ; the reddening E ( B-V ) is 0.08 mag and the age is \sim 6.3 Gyr .
By comparison with theoretical isochrones , a metallicity of [ Fe/H ] \approx - 0.2 dex has been estimated .

Theoretical isochrones have been used to convert the observed cluster luminosity function into a mass function in the mass range \sim 0.6 - 1.1 M _ { \odot } .
We find a much flatter mass function than what has been found for young clusters .
If the mass function is a power law dN \sim m ^ { \alpha } dm , then we get \alpha = -0.5 \pm 0.3 .
This may be seen as a signature of the highly evolved dynamical state of the cluster .

Key words : Open star clusters : individual : Berkeley 32 - star : evolution - HR diagram - Mass functions - Galactic disk