Masaan

Masaan
File:Masaan poster.jpg Film poster
Directed by	Neeraj Ghaywan
Produced by	Drishyam Films Phantom Films Macassar Productions Sikhya Entertainment
Written by	Varun Grover
Starring	Richa Chadda Vicky Kaushal Sanjay Mishra Shweta Tripathi
Music by	Indian Ocean
Cinematography	Avinash Arun Dhaware
Edited by	Nitin Baid
Production company	Drishyam Films Phantom Films Macassar Productions Sikhya Entertainment Pathé Arte France Cinéma
Distributed by	Pathé (France)
Release dates	19 May 2015 (2015-05-19) (Cannes) 24 June 2015 (2015-06-24) (France) 24 July 2015 (2015-07-24) (India)
Running time	109 minutes
Country	India France
Language	Hindi

Masaan (Crematorium) is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Neeraj Ghaywan. The directorial debut film is an Indo-French co-production produced by Drishyam Films, Macassar Productions, Phantom Films, Sikhya Entertainment, Arte France Cinema and Pathé Productions. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival winning two awards. Ghaywan previously assisted Anurag Kashyap on Gangs Of Wasseypur.

Plot

Set in the present day Varanasi, the plot of Masaan follows two seemingly separate stories that eventually converge.

The first of these tells the story of Devi. The film opens with her and her fellow student, Piyush, checking into a hotel room. They are interrupted during sex when the police bursts in, accusing them of indulging in “indecent behaviour”. As the inspector records the barely clad Devi on his mobile phone, the boy Piyush, in his undies, locks himself in the bathroom and commits suicide. Devi and her family are subjected to blackmail by the police, particularly by Inspector Mishra, who demands a hefty bribe of three lakhs from Vidyadhar Pathak, Devi’s father to hush up the matter. While he struggles to fulfill the demand, she responds in a dignified manner to the 'stigma' forced on her by switching jobs. She eventually gets a government job in the Railways in Varanasi. Marred by the parochial mindset of people, she leaves Varanasi and joins a course in Allahabad.

The second narrative concerns Deepak, a young boy (also from Varanasi) from Dom community (a low-caste of corpse burners) whose family work in cremation ghat by burning funeral pyres. Despite being a Dom, Deepak wants to transcend the restrictions of his low caste. He studies Civil Engineering at a polytechnic college where he meets and falls in love with Shaalu, an upper caste girl. They start meeting each other and during a trip to Allahabad at the banks of Ganga, Shaalu falls for Deepak and accepts his proposal. Back in Varanasi, Deepak tells her about his caste and the work he does of burning corpses, but Shaalu remains firm and tells him that she will be with him even if her parents refuse. She asks him to focus on his placements and bag a job, while she reaffirms her commitment to him . However, unfortunately, during a pilgrimage trip along with her family, she dies in a ghastly bus accident and her dead body along with some other victims ends up at the same cremation ground. Deepak is shattered on seeing her dead body and loses all purpose in his life for a while. But eventually comes to cope with the support of his friends. He also gets an engineer's job in Railways landing up in Allahabad.

The film reaches its climax as Devi comes to the bank of Ganga to immerse the gift Piyush had given to her on the fateful day in the hotel. Deepak notices her crying and offers her water to drink. A boatman beckons offering them a ride on the boat towards Sangam. Both board the boat striking a conversation. Devi tells Deepak that this is her first time she is going towards Sangam. Deepak tells her he has been there earlier once but adds that there is a belief one should visit the Sangam at least twice, once alone and once in someone's company. With that, the film ends.

Cast

• Richa Chadda as Devi Pathak
• Vicky Kaushal as Deepak Chaudhary
• Sanjay Mishra as Vidyadhar Pathak
• Shweta Tripathi as Shaalu Gupta
• Pankaj Tripathi as Sadhya Ji
• Nikhil Sahni as Jhonta
• Satya Kam Anand as Vikram Mallah
• Vineet Kumar as Doctor Chaudhary

Music

Masaan: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Indian Ocean
Released	July 2015
Length	18:07
Language	Hindi
Label	Zee Music Company

The songs were composed by Indian Ocean. The album received positive response from critics.

Masaan (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Tu Kisi Rail Si"	Varun Grover (Adapted from a poem by Dushyant Kumar)	Swanand Kirkire	03:50
2.	"Mann Kasturi"	Sanjeev Sharma, Varun Grover	Amit Kilam	07:13
3.	"Bhor"	Sanjeev Sharma	Amit Kilam, Rahul Ram and Himanshu Joshi	07:00

One of the songs ("Tu Kisi Rail Si") is based on the work of the poet Dushyant Kumar.

Reception

Critical response

Masaan received overwhelming critical acclaim from the mainstream media. Calling it "a very engaging debut" by Neeraj Ghaywan, Allan Hunter in Screen Daily wrote, "Vicky Kaushal brings a gauche charm to Deepak and Richa Chadda invests the long suffering Devi with a weary, unwavering determination to move forward. Cinematographer Avinash Arun Dhaware captures some fantastic images of Banares that convey the bustling spirit of the city from the brightly lit street markets to the flurry of sparks that dot the night sky from the funeral pyres." Deborah Young writing in The Hollywood Reporter described the film as "a classically poignant drama of star-crossed love" and "part of the new generation of indie films whose clear intent is to set ablaze a hidebound society’s constrictions on personal liberty." Jay Weissberg in his review for the Variety magazine, however, found it "a heartfelt yet overambitious tale of class and gender inequality" with the director failing to find "ways to overcome script and editing weaknesses, resulting in a disappointing drama."

Senior journalist Shekhar Gupta wrote in his National Interest column that Masaan left a deep impression on him, "get[ting] the pulse of small-town India as no other I have seen." The director has woven Ganga intimately into Varun Grover’s tight screenplay, Gayatri Gauri wrote in First Post adding "Several crucial moments swirl around the Ganga, beautifully shot without succumbing to visual exotica, and after you leave the cinema, they linger in your memory, like the flames dying slowly in the cremation grounds where so much of Masaan unfurls."

Shubra Gupta wrote in The Indian Express, "Masaan is imbued with a sense of place and time, poetry and lyricism, and it captures the essence of Banaras, constant-yet-changeable, with felicity and feeling. It also announces the arrival of new talents in its writer and director: Grover’s story is eminently worth telling, and Ghaywan tells it beautifully." "Ghaywan, in his very first film, creates a deeply affecting world that devastates and uplifts at the same time, and that becomes a part of your world long after the film is over," wrote Nikhil Taneja reviewing the film for The Huffington Post.

Accolades

At the Cannes Film Festival the film won the FIPRESCI Prize in the Un Certain Regard section and a 'Promising Future' prize (Prix de l'avenir) for debut films. And at All Lights India International Film Festival Kochi, the film won Golden Frame Award for Best Feature Film.

National Film Awards

• Best Debut Film of A Director- Neeraj Ghaywan

External links

• Masaan at IMDb