Govind Nihalani began his career as a cinematographer, after graduating in cinematography from Shree Jaya Chamrajendra polytechnic, Bangalore, 1962. The first feature film photographed and co-produced by him was "Shantata! Court Chalu Ahe" (Silence! The Court is in Session) which was co-produced and directed by playwright and stage director Satyadev Dubey. Then followed the highly rewarding association with director Shyam Benegal, for whom he photographed several documentaries (including a feature length documentary on Satyajit Ray) and ten feature films including "Junoon", for which Nihalani received a National Award for Best Color Cinematography in 1979. He photographed 12 feature films and a number of documentaries and commercials before directing his first feature film OAAKROSH¹ (Cry of the Wounded¹ which was awarded the Golden Peacock at the International Film Festival of India (1981). Served as second unit director-cinematographer on Richard Attenborough¹s OGANDHI¹. Has photographed 24 feature films and has directed 16 feature films from OAakrosh¹ in 1980 to ODev¹ in 2004.

Sujata Chatterjee is a middle aged, traditional, submissive, unprotesting, upper middle class lady, employed in a commercial bank in Calcutta . She awakens one early morning to the shattering news that her youngest and favourite son, Brati, is lying dead in the police morgue, reduced to a mere numerical: Corpse No. 1084. This awakening propels her on a journey of discovery, in the course of which, struggling to understand her naxalite (militant leftist) son's revolutionary commitment, she begins to recognize her own alienation as a woman and wife from the complacent, hypocritical bourgeois society her son had rebelled against.

In an attempt to regain a sense of self from the intense psychological and emotional trauma, Sujata, as a mother, gains some deep insights into the complex relationship between the personal and the political.