Abhijit Mazumdar’s Body, a Hindi feature film, powerfully depicts how reckless behavior fueled by inebriated revelry can deeply impact a person’s life. The resulting trauma doesn’t just affect the protagonist in the moment but also leads to severe and lasting consequences. Mazumdar sensitively handles an extraordinary subject with great conviction while depicting human relationships in the Mumbai suburbs. Employing long shots and skillful editing, the filmmaker delicately explores the concept of anguish through a seamless flow of images and sounds. 

Body was selected in the International Competition section at the 2024 International Film Festival of  Kerala. In this interview, Mazumdar discusses the influence of film schools in his life, his attachment to urban characters and his methods of working with actors.

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Dipankar Sarkar: You are a direction alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and currently head the direction department at Whistling Woods International in Mumbai. How has your journey from being a film student to becoming a faculty member influenced your craft as a filmmaker?  

Abhijit Mazumdar: I think I can’t imagine my life outside of a film school campus. From FTII to Whistling Woods, I continue to be a film student. I guess it’s common knowledge that teaching is the best way to learn. I have experienced that very wholesomely in all my years of teaching. One of the most interesting things about teaching is that one keeps encountering new questions and challenges. And nothing is more exciting than being surrounded by bright, young and curious minds. Every time a concept is put into practice, it becomes clearer to me. I learn something new. It keeps happening. And perhaps my knowledge about the craft becomes slightly sharper. The best thing about teaching is that it never stagnates. 

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DS: In Yeti (2014) and Body (2024), we find urban characters who are disillusioned, reside in the metropolitan city of Mumbai and are either actors or part of a film crew. What draws you to explore such characters?  

AM: I think I am still like a child mesmerized by the mystery of the inner workings of the process of filmmaking. I am deeply intrigued by it. Over the years, of course, this sense of wonderment has taken a darker turn. Along with the beauty of the world of images and sounds and how they come into being, I have also confronted and been tortured by the dark crevices that reside underneath — the occasional acute pain of belonging to this world. I think this dichotomous feeling is what leads me to explore the urban, disillusioned characters in my films who are either actors or part of a film crew. 

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DS: What made you decide to begin Body with Manoj rehearsing for the play Normal by Anthony Neilson over the title on a black screen?

AM: Manoj, Khusboo, the principal actors in the film and a few other FTII acting graduates had staged Normal in 2014, right after they had graduated from the institute. I had watched their performance at Prithvi Theater, Mumbai and was deeply affected by it — not only by their fantastic performance but also by the sheer originality of the play. I had not experienced anything so bold and radical in a long time. From that time, I had nurtured the desire to make the play a part of something that I may make in future. When I started writing Body, the threads of the play slowly started weaving itself into the world of the film. There is a strong conceptual resonance, in terms of what we understand as “normal.” And also, in the similarities between the time the play is set in — Germany in the 1920 — and our current times, I wanted the narrative of Body to grow in the framework of the narrative of the play. That is the reason why I started the film with a snippet of the play. 

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DS: The narrative events in Body don’t follow a linear structure; instead, they are episodic and fragmented to depict the story of a man traumatized by a bitter experience. Could you share your thoughts on the film’s treatment?  

AM: I think the fragmentation in the structure is a reflection of Manoj’s mind space. This fragmentation may create a sense of disorientation and discomfort for the audience. A linear structure could have lent to a more comfortable watch. But that would have gone against the essence of Manoj’s experience of struggling to find an emotional anchor. He moves from one thing to another without a sense of linearity. And so do we. Also, we wanted to delve into the temporal experience of each scene with the hope that this engagement will get us closer to Manoj’s dissociative experience of realistic time.

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DS: Body includes sensitive moments where the protagonist is depicted via frontal nudity. How did you collaborate with Manoj to ensure these scenes were portrayed authentically?  

AM: Manoj and I worked together on his acting diploma [film], Yeti, in 2013. Since that time, we have developed a deep bond with each other. When I thought of Body, I also thought of Manoj as the protagonist. In our first meeting about the film, I had only shared the image with him — a picture of a naked man in public — and asked if he would be interested in playing the role. If he had said “no.” I perhaps would have shelved the film. But he said “yes,” and there was no looking back. In the course of our preparation which involved discussions, readings, workshops and rehearsals in safe spaces, we formed a deep sense of trust in each other. He trusted me completely, and my responsibility was to protect his trust. Also, the other supporting actors in the film — Khushboo, Amol, Jatin, Sandeep, Shivam and Kritika — were either his batchmates or juniors. Vikas, the cinematographer, was his batchmate. The rest of the main crew [members] — Amala, Krishnendu and Anunoy — are all from FTII. We all came together and became a family. It was like making a diploma film with a longer duration. I think this spirit of complete trust in each other, and Manoj’s incredible ease and comfort with his own body, helped us achieve those sensitive scenes with a sense of authenticity.

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DS: You relied mostly on long shots, with the camera lingering for a long time, to allow the drama to unfold. What led you to choose this visual approach?  

AM: In my course of teaching cinema over more than a decade, I have grown increasingly fascinated by the nature of abstraction in the medium of images and sounds. How does one construct abstraction, through working with real time and space, stay within the framework of “realism”? What is that thin line when reality starts becoming abstract? I think this engagement led me to look around myself in a certain way. If I don’t look long enough, I won’t be able to recognise that thin line. That essentially is the reason why we relied on long takes. I also think the element of time helps engage with the internal rhythm, which helps transcend a functional, realistic experience. Another very important element is the element of sound, which again helps transcend the physical boundaries of the frame and opens up exciting possibilities of rhythm through the seen and the unseen. These engagements became the primary elements of our mise-en-scène choices, which helped to build Manoj’s world.

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DS: Why did you end Body on an ambiguous note, leaving us with a sense of unease?  

AM: In the end, we sense that Manoj has gone back to his dream world — maybe one of his earlier dreams that he had narrated to us. Dreams are ambiguous, and they may create a sense of unease. The ending of the film quite naturally drifts towards that.

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DS: Body has been selected for the International Competition section of the International Film Festival of Kerala. What are your thoughts on this achievement?   

AM: We are extremely happy with the selection. We had been battling rejections for a while. And this selection is the greatest thing that could have happened to the film. We are extremely grateful to IFFK for giving us this platform. 

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DS: What are your plans for Body?

AM: We are still in the process of sending it to other festivals. We are looking forward to a few more selections and more screenings to show the film to more audiences in India as well as all across the world. 

Dipankar Sarkar (@Dipankar_Tezpur) is a graduate in film editing from the Film and Television Institute of India and currently based in Mumbai. As a freelancer, he frequently contributes to various Indian publications on cinema-related topics.

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