Masaan

Gone are the days when people used to flock to cinemas on hearing about a "Salman Khan will remove his shirt" scene. Gone are the days where you have a 100 people pop out of nowhere and join the actors in an impromptu dance. Gone are the days when a shower of petals across the screen would imply that people are making out. Well, at least, they should be gone.

2015 is turning out to be a breathtaking year for Hindi Cinema. First we had "Margarita, with a Straw", which, simply put, broke all stereotypes. And now we have Masaan, which makes Margarita look small. We have had a few amazingly touching and intense films in regional Indian cinema, with the likes of Ray, Kasaravalli, et al, but this is a whole new territory in Hindi Cinema.

Masaan is devastatingly beautiful. Where do I even start? In the small North Indian town of Varanasi, the lives of a few ordinary people intertwine in two tales of love and loss. Right from the opening scene, we are thrown right into the tragic lives of these people, with an intensity hitherto unseen in Indian cinema, almost Scorsese like. It is so intense, that an air of discomfort fills the theater just 5 minutes from the opening. And that of unjust. Unjust, as we are forced to see the catastrophic consequences of corruption, greed, caste-ism, and people's attitudes towards sexuality. This is no pretty film. There are no scenes of comic relief. It gets into your head real quick, and you are all but mute spectators to their spiraling lives. You feel chained to your seats as you're unable to do anything for them. Now that's the power of good cinema.

The acting is almost perfect. Richa Chadda, as Devi, the bold woman caught up in sexual crime and corruption, is the star of the show. She pulls off the small town girl next door role with elegance and beauty, which only increases with her fearlessness as the film progresses. All the other actors, though not as good, are extremely believable in their respective casts. The direction is impeccable, with every small shot, be it romance or crime, captured with equal ferocity. But where the film truly stands out is in its cinematography. Avinash Arun Dhaware does in incredible job in capturing the holy city of Benaras in both its highs and lows. He sure is an expert in glorifying tragedy. The shots of the cremation at the ghats, the boat rides at night, and the train on the bridge are so hauntingly beautiful that they would remain etched on to my memory for quite some time.

Masaan is a film that exposes you to the kinds of lives people elsewhere live, and gives you an opportunity to evaluate yours. It makes you ponder over issues, though a tad exaggerated, that people in certain parts of our country surely still face. It might also teach you a thing or two on love, loss and moving on. Although I haven't seen a lot of Hindi cinema, this might just about be the best that I have.

Unfortunately, most people would still prefer a topless Salman Khan than a gem like this.

Now we know how long it took for Bollywood to come up with 2015's first best film: 7 months.

One should be prepared to give multiple chills to their spine as he/she goes on about watching and completing this compelling drama consisting of two parallel stories talking about life, love, and death. A young careless daughter (Chadda) of an aging professor (Mishra) from the highly conservative city of Varanasi finds herself committing a mistake while bridging the gap between love and lust, after having fallen for one of her coaching class students, which pushes the father-daughter duo into a horrible mess involving a corrupt policeman and his greedy, two-holed belly. The first five minutes of this story is enough to entice a normal person, and if you are a film fanatic, you'll throw away the popcorn for you want to concentrate.

The second tale, about adolescent love, is as charming as its two main characters. The most valid setting for an interior village in the holy city is perhaps what best describes one of the protagonists here: an Engineering student (Kaushal) who is the hope of a family whose generation-old work background has everything to do with the celebrated, open crematorium (translating to masaan in Hindi) that happens in the banks of the Ganges river in Varanasi. His transition from a sincere student into a bereaving mass of wreck is triggered when a girl (Tripathi) innocently enters his life. They fall in love, and watching this love unfold is a real treat. Sweet pleasure treat.

And if one feels unfinished with these stories, then there is great doses of poignancy to it. It is absolutely heartbreaking to watch the fate of these characters as they embrace dynamic equilibrium in their hopeless lives, just to move forward. The stories as a single entity reek of realism to the fact that such things still happen in this modern world where on one side of the globe people are talking about shifting to Moon or Mars. The whole idea is haunting and let us not go down the anachronism road, not that it is prevalent in the film.

Cast performance is brilliant. The way they act out the well-written characters shows how the makers have paid attention to details and have done good homework about the theme. Mishra, as original as ever in his typecast character, rules the frame whenever he appears. The newcomers also add panache (wrong word, I know) to the screen, especially Tripathi. Music and lyrics are supportive, too.

BOTTOM LINE: With a fantastic conclusion, Masaan is a heart- wrenching tale of people trapped in a conundrum we all call life.

VERDICT: 8 stars out of 10. Highly recommended!

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Sex/Profanity: Mild

Masaan is a story set in real Benaras which is better known as Kashi. Why did I mention real Benaras? This film makes you meet the other side of Kashi which is more active in the night than the day, the cremation Ghats where the dead bodies are burnt as per Hindu rituals. The cremation Ghats of Kashi has been mostly portrayed in films and serials as a mystic place but here the director, a débutant Neeraj Ghyawan and co-writer Varun Grover portrays the cremation Ghats as a usual business place where the bodies are burnt after dying. But, the film has a hidden treasure beyond the burning of the bodies in the cremation ghats. It's the burning of people griefs and the courage to let go their guilt to celebrate a new life.

The urge of arriving in life is portrayed by each central character of the film – Richa Chadha as Devi, Sanjay Mishra as Devi's father and Vicky Kaushal as Deepak. While Devi wants to get out of the narrow mindedness of the city and attain more liberty in the form of experiencing love and pleasure, the other character Deepak wants to break his shackles of being a pyre burning lower caste youth of becoming a civil engineer and dreams of marrying his upper caster girlfriend.

Sanjay Mishra runs a small shop at the cremation ghat and is trying to rejuvenate the cold relationship with his daughter and in order to protect her from a scandal; he breaches his own moral principles when he forces a child who works in his shop to take part in the dangerous game of collecting coins from the Ganges. The story brings twist in the each character's lives when they are forced to do a soul searching. Their soul searching brings dark moments in the film when you feel sad about their lives. But wait, there is light after the dawn and no grief is permanent. The films at the end leaves you with a message that Masaan is not only about burning the physical bodies but also about letting go your grief and making your soul guilt free.

The film is beautifully written with a strong message and a good débutant director attempt towards the serious sensible storytelling cinema. The music by Indian Ocean gels with the characters lives and the city's backdrop. The lyrics and music of the songs 'Tu Kisi Rail si gujarti hai' based on Dushyant Kumar's poetry and Man Kasturi re' are simply magical and has lifetime music value. All credits to the Director Neeraj Ghyawan who has been trained under Anurag Kashyap and the co-writer Varun Grover for such a beautiful story. Both the seasoned and the débutant actors have worked hard on their characters and that is evident from their acting.

I want to end this review for Masaan with these few lines in Hindi.. Jo Man ko Chu Jaye Use khubsurat ahsas kehte hai, Jo Atma ko Chu Jaye Use Masaan Kehte hai !

‎Masaan‬ means a place, where dead bodies are cremated. If you can stand the sight of actual dead bodies being burnt, right after a cute scene of an excited 21 year old guy, whose Facebook friend request has been accepted by his crush; then yes, definitely watch this one.

Its a dark, complex, hard hitting movie, which is set across the enchanting Banaras and the majestic Ganges; revolving around the life of simple human beings.

'Man kastoori re' by Indian Ocean, can be the sole reason for a music lover to buy a movie ticket. At Cannes, this movie by debut director Neeraj Ghaywan won 2 awards; and it is said that very few Asian movies have received 5 minutes of standing ovation during its screening.

The movie has flaws (the absence of that scent of regional tone in the dialogues was the most disappointing part), but the mindblowing performance by Sanjay Mishra & the strong, heavyweight performance from Richa Chadda will make it up.

If you support such good cinema, and want more 'daring' film-makers, then don't miss it.

I don't have to explain why you should watch this movie.

There are so many aspect of this movie which will touch you. Reality, true cinematography, story acting.

People from Banaras, Allahabad, UP will feel more touched due to so many reality scene shot on true spots.

For some people it may be a little sad and heart touching movie, but rest assure, it will leave a mark in your memories.

Perfect and right actors choose, like super Sanjay Mishra, Richa Chadda etc. To really enjoy this movie, watch it undisturbed, end to end, without chit chat, I am saying this because you need to connect to the move and very light emotional plots, which you will miss in small chit chat.