Arising from the Surface

Arising from the Surface (Hindi: सतह से उठता आदमी) is a 1980 Indian film directed by Mani Kaul.

[1] This is an essay film grounded in the writings of Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh the prominent 20th century Hindi writer, poet, essayist, literary and political critic.

[3] The film is neither a biopic nor an adaptation, or an essay, nor fiction, and yet it engages with all these forms producing a cinematic text that defies any categorization.

The narrative is fashioned around three characters: Ramesh (Bharath Gopi), who embodies Muktibodh's subjectivity, where as Madhav (Jha) and Keshav (M. K. Raina) are his companions.

All three saunter in and out of numerous mise-en-scène, driven by the political, philosophical underpinnings of Muktibodh's universe.