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| Image Courtesy: www.bollywoodlife.com |
Cast: Sanjay
Mishra (Vidyadhar Pathak), Richa Chadha (Devi Pathak), Vicky Kaushal (Deepak Chaudhary),
Shweta Tripathi (Shaalu Gupta), Pankaj Tripathi (Sadhya Ji), Nikhil Sahni
(Jhonta), Satya Kam Anand (Vikram Mallah), Bhagwan Tiwari (Inspector Mishra), Vineet
Kumar (Doctor Chaudhary), Bhupesh Singh (Sikandar Chaudhary)
Direction: Neeraj Ghaywan
Producers: Manish Mundra, Vikas Bahl, Melita Toscon du Plantier, Anurag
Kashyap, Guneet Monga, Vikramadita Motwane, Marie Jeane Pascal, Shaan Vyuas
Production
Company: Drishyam Films,
Phantom Films, Macassar Films, Shikya Entertainment
Written by: Neeraj Ghaywan, Varun Grover
Music: Indian Ocean Band
Cinematography: Avinash Arun Dhaware
Edited by: Nitin Baid
Release Date: 24th July, 2015 (19th May, 2015 at Cannes)
Duration: 1 hour 49 minutes
Language: Hindi
Masaan, a film by
debutant director Neeraj Ghaywan, is a very different film which Indian Cinema has not seen in the
recent past. Masaan is going to touch your hearts. It has already won two
awards at 68th Cannes International Film Festival this year: International
Federation of Film Critics award (FIPRESCI) and Prix de I’Avenir ‘Most
Promising Newcomer’ award for Neeraj in the Un Certain Regard section. Masaan’s
screening at Cannes fetched the whole team 5 minute long standing ovation.
Neeraj has assisted Anurag Kashyap for Gangs of Wasseypur. When Varun Grover
joined hands with Neeraj to write this film, the result which has come out as
Masaan is a must watch. Indian Ocean Band’s music is a delight to ears. Masaan
was also showcased as the opening movie in Jagran Film Festival (1-5th
July, 2015) at Delhi. I was one of the lucky one to catch this show, and I was
touched, moved with the movie. Jam packed audience at Jagran Film Festival also
gave the Masaan Team standing ovation.
Masaan has got
raving reviews from all across the corner after its release. I feel very
incompetent to review this movie, since many details are to be seen and felt, very
difficult to express through writing.
Masaan is a story
of life, death, innocent love, natural progression to explore love as adults,
the need to be part of a family, conservative yet adopting a modern outlook
towards life, complex mix of modernity with tradition, rebelling against the
moral constructs of the society, corruption by a police officer etc. Masaan is definitely going to have a
lingering impact on you, make you accept death as an inevitable part of life,
value life more, handle the loss of life, grow beyond grief, face the
turbulence of life and the necessity to move on in life irrespective of
situations. Oh yes, there are moments of innocent love which is going to bring
lot of smile on your face. The film does not try to convey what is right and
what is wrong, it does not take any stand as such. It just projects certain
realities of life. Certain scenes are so intricately handled, minute details
are covered, and these generate so many emotions within us.
The word Masaan
means cremation grounds (Ghat), where dead bodies are cremated. The movie is
set up in the backdrop of Banaras Ghat. Different stories are conveyed, intertwined
with one another. Initial credits in the screen are followed by a message which
meant that life is an arrangement of five elements whereas death is actually
disarray of the very same five elements. It sets out the tone of the whole
movie.
The film begins
with Devi Pathak (Richa Chadha) watching a porn film and later going to meet
her boyfriend Piyush Agarwal who used to come to her coaching institute where
she was working as a receptionist. Both of them are caught red-handed by police
officials in a hotel during their first sexual encounter. Inspector Mishra
(Bhagwan Tiwari) does not waste a minute in shooting Devi’s video. Meanwhile,
Piyush attempts to commit suicide in the restroom. Life takes a humiliating
turn for Devi.
Vidyadhar Pathak
(Sanjay Mishra, Devi’s father), once a professor, now sits in one of the ghat as
a Pandit to conduct rituals and sell Puja materials, and also translates some
work to earn a living. He reaches police station to bail Devi out. Oh, it is
such a strong emotional moment, when Devi and Vidyadhar are sitting in two
chairs adjacent to each other in front of Inspector Mishra. One can relate with
both the characters. Vidyadhar is a person, for whom, respect in the society
matters a lot. Vidyadhar and Devi’s humiliation reflect so much through their
body language. Even after their coming back home, without uttering a word,
Vidyadhar expresses to Devi his grief, pain, disbelief, humiliation. Inspector
Mishra later emotionally blackmails Vidyadhar when Piyush dies and demands
money from him.
And then there is
story of Deepak Chaudhary (debutant Vicky Kaushal), who is from Dom community,
lives in Harishchandra Ghat along with his parents, brother and sister-in-law. He
is also pursuing his final year engineering from a polytechnic college. Masaan
shows the lives of people of his community dealing with deaths every moment and
earning their livelihood out of deaths. There is a dialogue in the movie which
says: There are only two kings in Banaras – one is Kashi King and another one
is Dom king; and how true this is. The
dom community is in ghat with the funeral pyre most of the time. They even use
this holy pyre to light their stove at home to cook food.
Deepak falls in
love with Shaalu Gupta (debutant Shweta Tripathi), an upper caste girl, who is
so much a lover of poetry and well-versed with the works of Mirza Ghalib,
Bashir Badr, Nida Fazli, Akbar Allahabadi etc. The way love blossoms between
Deepak and Shaalu does bring lot of smile. It is interesting to see, how Deepak
chooses facebook to connect with Shaalu. Music by Indian Ocean band, and lyrics
by Varun Grover (inspired from the poet Dushyant Kumar’s ghazal) : “Tu kisi
rail si guzarti hai, main kisi pull sa thartharata hum…” add so much meaning to
Deepak and Shaalu’s love.
A strong bond is
shown between Vidyadhar Pathak and adorable orphan kid Jhonta (Nikhil Sahni),
who assists him in his shop at ghat. Jhonta loves to dive deep into Ganga but
does not get permission from Vidyadhar.
Another character
Sadhya ji (Pankaj Tripathi), is a clerk in the railway reservation center. How
his character is introduced and his role adds to the film’s plot, watch the
film to know.
How does the
story of Masaan move further? Does Devi’s character succumb to guilt and humiliation?
How does she address her own guilt? Does she outgrow it to take charge of her
life? How the relationship between Devi and her father Vidyadhar shape up after
the unfortunate incident? How do they arrange money for Inspector Mishra? What
happens to Deepak and Shaalu’s love story? What actually happens when one
person who sees deaths every moment but has to face the death of his most
beloved one? How to overcome the grief and feeling of loss? Does the holy river Ganges able to fill the
gap between caste, genders created by human beings in the society? Although,
the climax, rather the whole plot, might raise certain questions in your heart
i.e. what if the things which happened never happened at all or had taken a
different turn?
Certain moments
which are definitely going to give you goosebumps: Understated emotions between
Devi and Vidyadhar; Deepak trying to cry his heart out and say: ye dukh sala
khatam hi nahi hota; Vidyadhar’s realization of how he became a self-centered
person to fulfill his own motives, Jhonta’s love towards Vidyadhar and
determination to help him; Skullcrushing scenes in the ghat; Deepak’s father
wanting Deepak to move out of house / ghat life by fetching a job; Vidyadhar
packing food for Devi etc.
What a fabulous
acting by Sanjay Mishra as Vidyadhar Pathak. He brings so much life to all
those understated or unstated emotions. Richa Chadha has again proved herself, such
a restrained performance. She brings out Devi’s guilt, rebelliousness, and
desire to grow in life so well through her performance. The little kid Nikhil
Sahni is simply adorable. Pankaj Tripathi is also very good. A special mention
for debutants Vicky Kaushal and Shweta Tripathi, how innocently, naturally and
beautifully they have loved each other in the film. Vicky and Shweta would make
us want to fall in love again. Vicky has played his role & delivered the
dialogue so convincingly. He expresses happiness as well as grief of Deepak so
well. Shweta with her beautiful smile and poetry sprouting role as Shaalu has
added lot of freshness to the film. Both Vicky and Shweta are awesome. Rest of
the actors have also done justice to their characters.
Indian Ocean’s
music, Varun’s lyrics and Avinash Arun’s cinematography adds lots of magic to
the film.
Masaan, a must-watch film, showcases the journey of
transformation, journey from the Ganges to Sangam; talks about the very essence
of life.
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)
