Even when the protagonists unravel the deep-seated corruption that led to the death of a friend, they choose to retreat, to quit the city of crime - Delhi - rather than engage in a lopsided battle. They are way too strong and powerful.” This keen awareness - of the place of the small man in the larger scheme of things - resonates through the novel. “A novel or a film may come out, but institutions remain untouched. Is it too much to expect a piece of fiction to force introspection in mighty religious institutions?īenyamin tends to think so. Sharira Shastram, the Malayalam original, came out in 2018, and though the subject was volatile - the nexus between organised religion and crime - it hardly ruffled any feathers. Even when the protagonists inīody and Blood sign up for faith, they quest something else - love, companionship, acceptance, financial assistance or career prospects. It is dangerous, he observes, when they grow beyond their realms and mix potently with politics and power. Religion and belief remain deeply personal. I enjoy spirituality faith is blind.”Ĭhurches for Benyamin are social spaces where community bonds are forged and nurtured. “It might come from our mind, our silences. The third person narrative grants a certain distance, but the author derives his comfort from his spirituality. It airs the doubts that nag non-believers, the blind faith that governs insiders and the accomplices they become when they are sucked deep into the mire of crime and religion. Body and Blood/ Benyamin/(Tr) Swarup BR / Fiction / Harper Perennial / ₹499īody and Blood has the tenor of a thriller, but remains at heart a rumination on god, faith and religion.
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