'The mountain of trash'

"Panchabhuta" in ancient Hindu philosophy represents the five basic elements that define life, namely, fire, water, earth, sky and ether or space. Kumar was looking for a theme for his new documentary film, when he stumbled upon "mountains" of filth at the Dhapa dumping ground in Kolkata, a short distance from the Satyajit Ray Film Institute in Kolkata, where Kumar is enroled for a course in film-making. His film is now India's entry at the Berlinale Shorts competition for documentary films.

In an interview with the Deutsche Welle, Kumar said he wanted to focus on the existence of these five basic elements in the life and the space of the dumping ground. His perception of the garbage dump is "surrealistic, “because normal human lives are not familiar with what goes on there. He says, “To me, it forms a graveyard of derelict objects, unidentified animal and human dead bodies. The space is uninhabitable because of the filthiness, the unbearable stench and the clouds of smoke and dust."

Kolkata's Dhapa landfill has been in existence since 1981. Plastic bags, potato peel, hospital waste, old machines, unidentified human and animal carcasses vie for space in an area where toxic substances combust on their own, resulting in small fires and ash clouds that envelop the area. Rag pickers huddle around small fires to dry themselves in Kolkata's humid climate. Government and private trash trucks offload more garbage, which are swept into piles by cleaners. Stray dogs looking for scraps of food burrow into the piles of trash and scatter them.

Dhapa, for Kumar, is the quintessential underbelly of urban life in Kolkata. While visiting the place for his documentary, Kumar became aware of the organic nature of life in Dhapa. Life here has its own course. According to Kumar, the lives of ragpickers in Dhapa are almost "apocalyptic," but also mundane, since their routine revolves around the muck and the filthiness in the area.

Kumar has tried to film Dhapa as he sees and feels it. The film does not have any plot or a story; there are no interviews, no characters or dialogues. The leitmotif is the play of light on the burning garbage piles from sunrise to sunset. Through his film, Kumar tries to examine the relationship between the ground scattered with dirt, the rain, the air around it, the smoky sky and the entire space and the lives of its inhabitants.

Kumar has directed five documentary films until now, mostly as a part of his degree at the film institute. A graduate in computer applications, he has found his calling in movie-making along with his quest for spirituality. His debut at the Berlinale will be a first for him outside India and the 29-year-old is brimming with excitement at the prospect of winning an award for his efforts.

Report: Manasi Gopalakrishnan

Editor: Grahame Lucas