Masaan (2015)

When Vicky Kaushal, Richa Chadha, Sanjay Misra and Pankaj Tripathi are acting in a film, that itself should have attracted me. But director Neeraj Ghaywan did not strike a bell. Am I glad though that I did not pass over this film just for that reason.

'Masaan' means burning ghat, and not surprisingly the setting is in Varanasi. There are some great shots of the Ganges, both in the misty mornings as well as at night while floating languidly down the river, alternating with the hellish ambience of perpetually burning pyres. At other places, the cinematography is strait cut and efficient, telling the story in laconic bursts.

A film titled 'Masaan' is bound to deal with death. Richa Chadha is inadvertantly involved in the suicide of her casual boy friend. She spends the rest of the film dealing with her guilt, with minimum dialogue. Sanjay Misra (Richa's father), already guilt-ridden with the death of his wife due to delay in medical attention, is stuck with a bribe demand from the police, and almost gets his small helper-boy killed in a diving contest. Vicky Kaushal being the son of a domraj (king of the pyre-handlers), experiences death very close to home - and close to his heart. In a way, the film is about closure, how various people make peace with their guilts and heartbreaks. After all, everything in life ends at the masaan.

In performance, Vicky Kaushal as the diffident lover and Sanjay Misra as the helpless father of a girl embroiled in a police case are really outstanding. The commercial aspect of the domraj's domain was an interesting titbit. But what I loved most was the director's light touch, his lack of dramatics even in the most shocking of moments, as if giving the characters private space to deal with their upheavals. As there is not a single dialogue that feels like it has been put there to explain the scene, I always felt like I was peeping into lives rather than watching a show. 

The only weakness I felt was that although there are heart-wrenching moments, the 'hands-off' depiction of the scenes prevents us from feeling the emotions fully and empathising more with the characters. But I guess it was a choice the director made when deciding the tone of the narrative.

Masaan had won 13 awards in various platforms for direction, acting, screenplay and editing - and I could see why. Do take out time to see this film if you want to revive your faith that comtemporary film-makers in Bollywood are not a dying breed.