Source: IMDb
“मुसाफिर है हम भी मुसाफिर हो तुम भी किसी मोड़ पे फिर मुलाकात”
In a very beautiful scene between Shalu (Shweta Tripathi), quotes Bashir Badr in a conversation with Deepak (Vicky Kaushal). Masaan is a tale of this hope of finding solace in the co-traveler of life and how lives criss-cross in unexpected ways.
Not A Review
When July 24, 2022, marked 7 years of the iconic masterpiece Masaan, I resolved to write a piece about it. But what I was even more certain of was that it was not going to be a review. A review of this masterpiece would not only be far beyond the capacity of an amateur like me, but also an understatement of this piece of art.
The movie gushes through the roads of Varanasi and traces stories centered around issues of gender and caste. Director Neeraj Ghaywan and writer Varun Grover deal with extraordinary tales of ordinary people like Devi Pathak (Richa Chadha) and Deepak Kumar (Vicky Kaushal),the main characters along with other characters contribute to the storyline substantially.
Devi’s Story
Devi’s story begins when, out of “jigyasa”, she has a tryst with her lover.She gets caught by the police, and her partner dies by suicide right there. The police blackmail Devi and try to yield a hefty amount of money from her father. Devi’s story is one of resilience in the face of society-inflicted shame and rebellion. A motherless woman faces the odds of going against social norms and is bullied and harassed by her co-workers.
Her father, Vidyadhar Pathak (Sanjay Mishra), a former Sanskrit professor, pulls all cords to pay the bribe amount. A “morally upright” man, Pathak tries hard to make ends meet, and upturning the moral compass uses Jhonta (the little boy, who assists him) to use trivial means to exact the amount. Sanjay Mishra portrays helplessness and desperation in a very endearing way. Jhonta brings the screen alive and smears the screen with his innocence.
Richa Chadha as Devi plays a woman of fire with a spine. She is filled with guilt, yet she is not ashamed of what she did. She moves ahead in life, grieving for her dead partner yet striving to make a place for herself and also help with contributing to the sum of the bribe. Her story is of a seeker escaping from the confines of the regressive to what she considers a more liberating world.
Deepak’s Story
Deepak, on the other hand, comes from a Dom family. A socially marginalized person, he is caught in the shackles of an environment that suffocates him. Much like Devi, he is seeking an escape. To add to the story, he falls in love with Shalu (Shweta Tripathi) who is an upper-class woman. His escapades and struggles with his identity form an essential aspect of the tale. Tripathi and Vicky Kaushal’s romance is innocent and innocuous. There is an insane amount of beauty in the bond that the two share. Unfortunately, in the course, Shalu dies and Deepak grieves her loss.
“साला ये दुख काहे नहीं खतम होता है बे”
Deepak's entire misery is reduced to a single fragment of time in this infamous line. This one scene tears hearts apart, with his friends only adding to the reality of the scene.
As Deepak moves on from the loss, he pines to have an identity that liberates him and tries to rediscover himself. He eventually lands a government job. His story shows the trials and tribulations of people from the lower caste and their quest to escape from the social reins of bondage. Deepak is the lamp of hope for his family. He brings to life his aspirations as he struggles with his loss.
Music
The extraordinary soundtrack and dialogues that are very honest about the context in which the characters are set in make the movie even more beautiful. The Indian Ocean hums with magnetism and mysticism in the songs. There’s nothing that is not beautiful in the movie. It is a tell-tale of life: stories of pain, love, courage, guilt, and victory.
An Epic Ending
The movie ends on a note that leaves scope for imagination about the futures of Deepak and Devi as the two meet for the very first time in 109 minutes of screentime. They interact during a boat ride, fading into the background with Bhor setting in. Perhaps a metaphor for the dawn of a new life. Bashir Badr’s quotations are reiterated here, how lives with similar stories cross paths.
The river and its banks form a fundamental aspect of the movie. The river acts as an intersection of lives from the beginning to the end. There’s so much beauty in this piece of art that words can not describe and you only have to watch to be able to dwell on it. Neeraj Ghaywan's directorial debut, “Masaan", was acclaimed internationally. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and won two awards—FIPRESCI, the International Jury of Film Critics prize, and the Promising Future prize in the Un Certain Regard section.
Bottom Line
Masaan is the crematorium of guilt, redemption, pain, grief, and societal doctrines. Masaan portrays stories of people who seem to be located around us. Remnants of these characters are also within us. All of us have a little bit of all the characters. The movie might be set in Varanasi, but it is a tale of every town or small city in India where there is morality, corruption, and defiance. Masaan is a tale of the morality of a small town, as the writer Varun Grover said in an interview.
“संगम दो बार जाना चाहिए- एक बार अकेले, और दूसरी बार किसी के साथ”
Perhaps Grover summarizes that the movie tells one that more often than not, life gives you a second chance. When you visit life, visit it with wisdom.
Written by Ananya Verma
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