24th July. Six years of Masaan! But it still feels like today it has been released and I went to the theaters to watch it all by myself. I simply don’t know what to and how to say. Maybe because I am unprepared for this, maybe because I was unready for writing this blog. It was just like I was reading someone’s blog on the Wordpress and then there she had a blog whose link was shared right there and it opened up her Twitter handle. Phir then unintentionally I decided to stroll over her handle and then there was her tweet with #6yearsofMasaan. Something strike me, nostalgia strike me, as if I was cherishing those good, old, forever wali memories. Phir se, dobara se.
The very first time I watched Masaan was somewhere in Oct-Nov of 2018 woh bhi accidentally. With the family. The whole two hours long movie watched in one go; this is because with my family I hardly watch movies in a go. Pehli baar movie ka bas gist hi pata chala, it didn’t bothered me much. It didn’t hit me hard. Phir pata nahi kyu aur kaha se achanak hi the idea of Masaan was clicked again in May 2020. Towards the end. I decided to give it a watch, this time with utmost care and consciousness; observing more of its details, the subtleties, the intricacies, its philosophy going much more beyond what is merely shown on the screen. This time I’ve had to decipher what the director/scenarist is trying to say. Iss baari movie andar tak chhui thi. Kuchh tha ajeeb sa hi, jo dil mein ghar kar gaya tha. The movie actually kept me hooked up for days. The movie bothered me. Masaan actually hit me hard. For days and weeks I constantly kept thinking about it.
Masaan was not only about the romantic part between Shaalu and Deepak, neither about the individuals’ acting nor the script of the movie or lyrics of the song itself. Indeed all this mattered a lot in terms of it but for me this wasn’t the only reason for my love to it. To me Devi bothered a lot, Devi’s life bothered me a lot, Devi’s story happened to made me think less about her but more about myself. I felt immensely connected to Devi’s life. The tragic circumstances which totally ruined her life, but even led a new course, a new stream in her life. How she was traumatised for being indulged into an activity which she shouldn’t do before her marriage, the so-called culture of the society. How she and her father were tortured and were made to pay a hefty sum to that bloody inspector. There was this shame on her father’s part and the absolute guilt on Devi’s part. Back in the day, when I watched with my family, I don’t know why I was unable to see this part on the TV, unable to have any eye-contact with my father. For the time being it was like, as if me and my father were there on the screens, not performing something for any movie, but then it was all about me and my Paa rather then any Devi or Pathak ji. Thinking about the narrow mindset of this society even I wanted to escape somewhere far far beyond any of these taunts. How one can be anything or can do anything in those big cities, without being judged, seeing everyone without a xanthous eye. That concept of ‘CHHOTI JAGAH AND CHHOTI SOCH’. Unintentionally, but I was weeping. Whenever I watch Masaan, tears roll down my face.
I came to know more about the Kalu Dom community, the Kaluaa Dom (the way my elders/in my hometown pronounce). I learnt the idea of dreaming big and working for it from Deepak, how to be a gentle, calm yet romantic in is way from Deepak. ‘Ab toh hum FRAND ho gaye hain na’ and even ‘Ghar mein sabse chote hi itna kud-kudke baat karte hain’. I discovered poetry through Masaan. I came to know about Dushyant Kumar, Bashir Badr, Akbar Allahabadi, Chakbast through Shaalu. I came to know about RAAG DARBARI through Shaalu. ‘Aap bade buddhu hain par pyaare bhi’ and ‘Sabko sab kuch kaise pasand ho sakta hain, humein toh barsaat pasand hain’. I laugh a lot whenever I hear Gazab ka hain din! The imporatnce of Kheer from Sadhya ji. Kyuki ‘Jisne kheer nahi khaya usne manushya yoni mein paida hone ka purnatah faayda nahi uthaya’. Aur waise Guru Purnima ke avsar par aaj kheer banega, aur anaayas hi Sadhya ji ko yaad kiya jayega :) Even rest of the actors’ dialogues were simply great as for Pathak ji and Devi together in a scene and Pathak ji saying ‘Jail ke chaukhat pe khadi ho tum, baap (2 ya shayad 3) lakh ke karze mein hain aur jawab kya mil raha maloom nahi pata nahi’. I was able to feel this. The father joining hands in front of the dictator/torturer. The inspector Bhagwan Das Mishra though was a devil character in the movie but was simply outstanding. ‘Devi tumhari zindagi toh kandam ho gayi’. Jhontwa saying ‘Hum apne paise ka kar rahe hain, apki kaahe sulag rahi hain’ and indeed I laughed out loud man! KK urf Blondewa- that friend we actually need a lot in our lives. Deepak’s best buddy and a majnu at heart. This scene when Deepak sees his lady love’s corpse and was completely shattered. He joins with KK and rest of his friends and after a moment or so he cried out loud. This is when KK and his mates consoles him and KK saying ‘Abeh tum aur roye na toh hum tumko khoob marege’ AAH! Last but not the least, Devi ji is that cherry on the top. Her dialogue when she says ‘Jo kuch bhi kiya hum dono ne milke kiya aur agli baar aisi gandi baaton wala call kiya na toh dauda ke marege’. This is an evident fact that she is not feeling guilty and ashamed of what she did. Both were equally responsible for it but she felt sorry for Piyush and his family and in the end pays them a visit, releasing a part of herself.
I am not here to give a detailed analysis or synopsis of the movie. I am here simply to tell about my experience with it. How can we forget that very famous scene when Shaalu says ‘Koi ladki kisi ladki ko teddy deti hain bhala’ and in the very next moment, an immediate reply of Deepak to her ‘Paanch rupaye ke bhoonje ke liye koi ladki itna utpaat bhi toh nahi machati’. Haha, was completely hilarious dude. And even that heart-wrenching scene from the movie. ‘Saala yeh dukh kaahe khatam nahi hota beh’. It was spine-chilling, full of tremors. Actually the whole script was something different, more longer to say but Vicky in the state of completely drunk fellow, improvised it himself but it turned out to be something even greater than it. The philosophy behind ’28 train rukati hain aur kitni nahi rukti 64'. I loved the songs Mann Kasturi Re, it has deeper meanings, it has symbols and its own references. Bhor was okay-okay type but was kind of inspirational but Tu Kisi Rail Si is my personal favourite. Something which arouses romantic feeling. Deepak Shaalu’s courtship and the idea of accepting proposals through balloons. Simple and sweet in itself. Poetry is filled in every corner of Masaan, no matter what.
What if we had Udayprakash’s Kuch ban jate hain poem in the movie, what if Neeraj rejected that scene of Saala dukha kaahe khatam from the movie and went going in his own ways, what if we had Rajkummar Rao playing Deepak in the movie instead Vicky Kaushal, having Manoj Bajpyaee in the movie. (This is because I had read an interview of Vicky and Neeraj stating that they were casted since the later duo-Raj and Manoj didn’t have dates) Yeh kya hota agar wala question apne aap mein hi bada starnge sa hain. The movie may or may not be good, God knows but now after these many years we are used to it.
Masaan is my personal favourite movie till date, aage ka pata nahi. But Masaan will always have a special place in my heart. It’s more or less like I had heard or seen Deepak, Shaalu, Devi and others stories here in my real life. It’s not about any movie or so. This is something real. something quite obvious, which happens with most of us. Masaan hum sabki aapbeeti hain. I even remember Richa’s word which was like- ‘Movies like Masaan don’t pay you much but sometimes it’s more about payment and stardom.’ Really!! Movies like Masaan, which is not commercial, they have less audience you know, the movie is not well-known but then you have audience of all kind and taste. There’s always an audience for different individuals.
Thanks a ton Neeraj and Varun for giving such a wonderful movie. Words are not sufficed to describe this feeling, this gratitude. But the sad part about it is, we won’t have another Masaan :( Par shukriya DIL SE..
This wasn’t something written well before or was pre-planned. Nah. It was a total instinct kind of. I felt like writing so I did. Ha, everything wasn’t written in a single go, but yes while typing it out there was this flood of words. There was a kind of flow in me in regards to Masaan. This is even because you tend to have more and more ideas on your favourite topic or something you love the most. So this was it. :)
