Masaan

About the film

Masaan (transl. 'Crematorium'; also known as Fly Away Solo in English) is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language independent drama film starring Richa Chadda and Vicky Kaushal in lead roles. It is Kaushal's debut Hindi film, and also the directorial debut of Neeraj Ghaywan. It is an Indo-French co-production by Drishyam Films, Macassar Productions, Phantom Films, Sikhya Entertainment, Arte France Cinema and Pathé Productions.

The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival winning two awards. it was screened at the inaugural New York Dalit Film and Cultural Festival in 2019 along with Pariyerum Perumal (2018), Kaala (2018) and Fandry (2013). Since its release in 2015, the film has gone on to achieve cult status.

Plot

In Varanasi, Devi Pathak, a computer training center instructor, and her student, Piyush Aggarwal, are caught by the local police during a consensual sexual encounter in a hotel room. Seeking to extort the couple, Inspector Mishra records a video of a barely clad Devi. Terrified by police threats and the impending public shame, Piyush locks himself in the bathroom and commits suicide by slitting his wrists. Mishra uses the tragedy to blackmail Devi’s father, Vidyadhar Pathak, a low-income Sanskrit professor who runs a small bookshop. Mishra demands a bribe of ₹3 lakh to withhold an abetment of suicide charge against Devi. Desperate to raise the money, Pathak reluctantly exploits Jhonta, a young boy who works at his shop, by allowing him to participate in dangerous, local coin-diving betting games in the Ganges River. Meanwhile, Devi faces pervasive social ostracization and workplace harassment as rumors of the incident spread. She eventually secures a temporary job with the Indian Railways and vows to move to Allahabad to pursue higher education once her father pays off the corrupt inspector.

Simultaneously, Deepak Kumar, a young man from the marginalized Dom caste, lives at the cremation ghats where his family performs hereditary funeral rites. Determined to escape this cycle, Deepak studies civil engineering at a local polytechnic college. He falls deeply in love with Shaalu Gupta, a high-caste Hindu girl. Despite the immense societal divide, they form a deep connection. When Deepak honestly confesses his caste and his family's line of work, Shaalu remains undeterred, promising to elope with him if her conservative parents reject the match, while urging him to focus on his upcoming examinations. Tragedy strikes when Shaalu and her family go on a pilgrimage; their bus crashes, killing her instantly. Her body is brought to Deepak's cremation ghat, leaving him utterly devastated. Plunged into profound grief, Deepak eventually channels his pain into his studies, graduates, and lands a secure engineering position with the Indian Railways in Allahabad.

Back in Varanasi, Pathak risks ₹10,000 of his remaining savings on Jhonta during a high-stakes diving competition. The boy nearly drowns, prompting a guilt-ridden Pathak to vow never to gamble with the child's life again. Upon recovering in the hospital, Jhonta reveals he salvaged a gold ring from the riverbed—coincidentally the very ring Shaalu wore, which a grieving Deepak had thrown into the Ganges. Pathak sells the ring, successfully liquidating the final installment of Mishra’s bribe. Before departing the city, Devi attempts to find closure by visiting Piyush's grieving father, who violently rejects her. She walks to the banks of the Ganges to immerse a gift Piyush had given her. Deepak, also waiting by the riverbank to leave for his new life, notices her crying and gently offers her a bottle of water. As a boatman calls out, both Devi and Deepak board the vessel together, striking up a conversation as they float toward the Sangam in Allahabad to begin anew.

Themes

Masaan, a film about characters locked in the cycle of pain and salvation, depicts the existential problem expressed in the above phrase. While Varun Grover's screenplay has a poetic-realism feel to it, the film's mise-en-scene and other filmic aspects as sound, cinematography, and even casting choices assist to accentuate the film's key themes. 'Masaan,' a story about characters afflicted by various disasters, thematically explores concerns about suffering, agony, and redemption. The title, which means crematorium, and the setting hint to the film's themes of entropy, destruction, and resurrection. Masaan is set in Varanasi, historic centre of spirituality and redemption, which is portrayed as a storehouse of antiquated values and a boiling pot of unsatisfied ambitions.

Two paths are intertwined, one in sorrow and the other in optimism. Devi (Richa Chadha) has an "inappropriate rendezvous" in her budding relationship with her love interest, which leads to blackmail and harassment from a police officer (Bhagwan Tiwari) as well as the quiet fury of her father Pathak (Sanjay Mishra). Even as Devi retreats into a catatonic shell, Pathak takes tiny and major risks to maintain his honour, aided by the energetic Jhonta (Nikhil Sahni), a child who works for him.

Meanwhile, Deepak (Vicky Kaushal) has begun his trek out of the Varanasi cremation grounds, a caste-ordained purgatory where his Dom family has been sweeping embers over remains for years.

Key details