Masaan: A detailed analysis on closure
Masaan released way back in 2015, A lot of fellow film enthusiasts had asked me to watch it and they would always called it a “masterpiece”.
Why? I would ask.
But no one hand an answer, they always drew blanks.
When I finally saw the movie on a lonely Saturday last week, I realised that inspite of having a stellar cast and a great musical score (which most individuals focus on) the genius actually comes from the writers.
Highly accomplished and hugely popular Neeraj Ghaywan and Varun Grower do an absolutely brilliant job of representing a human being’s greatest emotional requirement…
Closure
While it has a million different interpretations, the best way to look at closure is in terms of the ending of a particular life event. We always look forward to a meaning to the event that makes sense to us, an explanation fits into the narratives that we have developed for our lives. Something that matches the values that we have developed, created and learnt to fall back on for ages.
Masan takes a deep look at this concept, and uses the following three character types and personal relationships to explain the same
- The Grieving Lover
Deepak (played by Vicky Kaushal) and Shalu (played by Shweta Tripathi) are fairly well educated and ambitious in life, cupid happens to them when they see each other for the first time and within a span of few days they fall madly in love with each other…
Inspite of hurdles in the form of caste issues and financial instability they decide to stick together.
However in a rather unfortunate turn of events, Shalu dies in a road accident.
Deepak is heartbroken beyond measure and retains the ring on her hand as a reminder of her memory.
With the ring constantly by his side it functions as a constant reminder of his loss plunging him into deeper grief with each passing day…
In a moment of sadness he spouts the following words:
“Salla yeh dukh kahe ko khatam nai hota hai bey”
Why am I still stuck in this hell hole?! Why cant I move on?!!..He constantly keeps asking himself.
One day seated at the banks of the Ganges, Deepak is suddenly taken over by a bout of rage, he picks up Shalu’s ring and throws it into the river. Realising his folly he immediately jumps into the river to search for the ring, Inspite of multiple attempts he fails to find it. Dejected he walks out of the river and goes back to the banks.
However, he suddenly feels all the weight of sadness that he felt over the past few months disappearing
Something about not being able to see the last material representation (the ring) of Shalu teaches him that he has been holding onto her memory for too long and that he needs to move on in life. He finally reaches a higher plane of understanding. He finally achieves closure….
2. Unresolved Grief
Story number two takes a look at a fractured relationship between a father (Vidyadhar, played by Sanjay Mishra) and daughter (Devi, played by Richa Chadda),
A corrupt cop catches Devi and her love in an intimate and vulnerable situation, he takes advantage of the same and threatens to publicly defame her unless a hefty bribe is paid.
The remainder of their journey is focused on the trials and tribulations that they face together during this period.
Stuck with the prospect of losing face and being unable to find ways to pay off the bribe, the father goes through moments of anger and disillusionment.
While he goes from pillar to post searching for a job for his daughter and additional schemes in which he can pay off the bribe, something unexpected happens.
A troubled past comes to haunt them once again, years ago when his wife died an unknown rift grew between father and daughter. A lot of things which needed to be resolved actually got buried under the carpet. An invisible wall grew between them that completely made them alien to each other.
A lack of closure on the problems resulted in a fractured bond..
After all these years these moments of tribulations forces them to face the demons in their relationship.
Devi realises that her father cared for her all along and did whatever he could to not make her feel the absence of a mother. While Vidyadhar realises the importance of letting his daughter to move on to better avenues in her life outside Varanasi.
In a twist of fate (a good one), the ring which Deepak throws into the ghat finds its way into the hands of the father using which he is able to pay off the bribe amount once and for all.
3. The Guilty Lover
The final plot line deals with the complex feelings that Richa Chadda has to deal with internally when her boyfriend takes his life.
Inspite of it being his act of cowardice, she believes that she is also partly responsible for it.
Even though she tries to move on from the incident, every time she sees a young couple her mind immediately takes her back to her supposed guilt.
She decides to go to his parents home to deal with these thoughts of hers and achieve some closure
However when she does reach his parents home quite the unexpected happens..In a fit of anger the parents shout at her and end up slapping her.
As she sits by the banks of the ghat crying by herself, she as well as the audience learn one of the biggest lessons that closure teaches us…
You cannot force closure, sometimes the biggest closure is that there will be no closure and that you just have to move on.
That was my take on what this wonderfully written movie was actually trying to communicate to its audience.
Watch it again and I am sure your perspective will change as well!!
FIN.
