Filmmaker Mukul Kumar’s short film The Farming Land follows a child and a weary man who decide to leave their troubled lives behind for a fresh beginning. The film thrives in an abstract form of performance art reminiscent of opera. Only, here, the music and visuals convey the ideas rather than singing. Starring Mukul himself alongside Kavi, Darshan, Lata, and Ian Christian, among others, it earned the Outstanding Film Award at last year’s Manifest Dance-Film Festival in Pondicherry. It is one of Mukul Kumar’s two films that have been selected to be screened at Amsterdam’s Cinedans FEST, the other being A Snake in the Grass.
In an exclusive conversation with CE, Mukul spoke about The Farming Land’s performance art-like treatment and how it resonates with the broader discourse on ballet and opera, the themes of his two films, his multifaceted background, his opinion about Timothee Chalamet’s recent comments on ballet, and more.
Excerpts:
Why did you choose The Farming Land as your film’s title?
I see this whole world as a farming land because society, including parents and schools, plants something in people's minds, especially in the children. As a result, we carry with us all the traumas with those seeds. The thorns you see on the faces of the characters represent the traumas. A major part of the film is about parenting, especially its imposition of thoughts and ideas on children, which plays a big part in shaping the world. I was always rebellious; I never listened to my parents and left academics when in ninth standard. Later, I started just putting my whole time and energy into just what I want: Art.
You mentioned making the film with the ‘Empty Bridge Method’. Can you elaborate on it?
I have been into movement for the last 15, 16 years. There was a time like when I was 16, I started my spiritual sadhana. Whatever I was experiencing and my research about body expressions and our existence, I used it all to create this meditative process. It goes through every layer of your being, including your emotional health, and improves quality of life. It heals by working on your traumas and on nervous system.
It’s interesting you say that, because actors sometimes relate to personal life incidents, including traumas, to enhance their performances…
That may be true, but art is coming not only from trauma. Art is also coming from very beautiful things which happen in life. The key to performing art or even film acting is to be in the moment and apply your life experience to the scene and be sensitive to what is happening around you.
Your film comes when there is much discourse around performing art since Timothee Chalamet’s contentious comments about ballet and opera…
Timothee can have his opinion. He is a fantastic actor, but he is also human. I feel his family is into ballet as well (which is true, his mother is a ballet performer). Seeing the same thing since your childhood… It can become a very boring exercise. That said, you do not need to save ballet. It has been around for years and is strong enough to exist on its own.
You are also a ballet performer. Do you think it is good to have much access to content, including ballet, from a theatre business perspective?
We are at a time when there is much accessibility to content, thanks to the large number of streaming platforms out there. Further, there is the threat of AI taking over many facets of entertainment, including acting. However, I do not believe any of this is a threat to performing art. After all, you cannot completely eliminate the live experience aspect of performing art, as with cinema. In the end, I believe that the circle will repeat. The importance of live experience will come back again.
Is there a performing art touch in A Snake in the Grass as well?
Yes, it is a movement-based short film. I only play the lead role in the film, also featuring my co-actor Tara. It is also an interesting film because it comes from French director Fu Le and is in black-and-white, with a style similar to Satyajit Ray’s cinema. He has a process that is similar to mine; we do not follow the screenplay to a T. If something occurs to us at the time of filming, we will follow our instinct.
You have a background in dance choreography. Do you feel dance films in India are good?
We have a long way to go to catch up with the West when it comes to out-and-out commercial dance films. This is because we make these films for the business and not the audience. However, I have seen some quality dance films in India as well. For example, the founders of Manifest Dance-Film Festival, Ashavari Majumdar and Abhyuday Khaitan, make some of the best dance films in India.