Masaan finds hope not by escaping death or social constraint, but by letting its characters move through them. Neeraj Ghaywan’s 2015 Hindi feature connects lives in Benares—now commonly called Varanasi—in a story about caste, grief, desire and the uncertain possibility of beginning again.
What Masaan is about
Set in Benares, Masaan follows several intersecting lives rather than a single hero’s journey. Deepak, from a poor neighborhood and a family of Dom cremation workers, falls for Shaalu, a young woman of a higher caste. Devi is left with guilt after her lover disappears, then faces blackmail and police harassment. Her father, Pathak, compromises his judgment under pressure and for money. Jhonta, a boy who works for Pathak, wants the security of a family. The film’s official synopsis frames these characters between modern life and tradition; critic Nandini Ramnath describes their paths as moving through despair, grief and hope. Macassar Productions; Scroll.
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Masaan | $27.66 | Buy on Amazon |
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The city’s cremation grounds are more than a backdrop. Death is a daily reality in Deepak’s inherited work, while the living confront the less visible forces that narrow their choices: caste hierarchy, gendered sexual repression, corrupt policing and financial hardship. These pressures belong to the film’s fictional world; they should not be mistaken for a documentary account of every person or community in contemporary India.
How the story strands illuminate one another
| Story strand | Starting constraint | What it brings into the film |
|---|---|---|
| Deepak and Shaalu | Deepak’s caste and inherited occupation place him below Shaalu in the social order. | A young romance tested by hierarchy and the unequal futures it allows. |
| Devi and Pathak | Devi’s private grief becomes vulnerable to blackmail and police abuse; Pathak faces financial and moral pressure. | A portrait of how shame and money can become instruments of control within a family. |
| Jhonta | A boy working for Pathak longs for the belonging he lacks. | A quieter counterpoint: the desire for family persists amid the adults’ compromises and losses. |
The strands are not interchangeable cases of suffering. One centers on caste and love, another on sexual shame and institutional exploitation, and another on a child’s hope for home. Their connection gives the film a wider emotional reach without making the characters’ experiences identical. Ramnath’s review sees their journeys converging around grief and the possibility of hope, while also questioning how fully the screenplay examines some consequences. Scroll’s review.
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A restrained film about pressure, not spectacle
Ramnath praises Ghaywan’s understated, observational approach and the performances. That restraint matters: the film watches people negotiate humiliation, desire and loss rather than turning every painful event into a grand dramatic display. Its circular structure links the characters’ separate movements, and the concluding scene is among the review’s strongest points.
The restraint is not always matched by subtle writing. The same review finds some screenplay elements awkwardly explicit and argues that certain consequences are not examined deeply enough. It also notes the tension between the film’s wish to provide closure and its broader sense that life remains unpredictable. That tension is central to how the ending lands: it offers an opening, not a guarantee that the damage has been repaired.
Rank #2
- Fly Away Solo (Masaan, Spain Import, see details for languages)
Death and renewal in the film’s making
Ghaywan told the Festival de Cannes that the idea began with a story he heard about cremation ghats: “In the year 2010, a friend told me about the cremation ghaats in Benares, where dead bodies are burnt in accordance with Hindu culture.” He said his original short-film premise concerned an orphan working on the ghats who falls for a priest’s daughter; the feature expands that seed into several connected lives. Festival de Cannes interview.
The production’s credits include Varun Grover for screenplay, dialogue and lyrics, Avinash Arun as cinematographer, Indian Ocean for songs, and Bruno Coulais for background music. In the same Cannes interview, Ghaywan said he wanted a passionate team and banned hierarchical structures during production. These details sit neatly beside the film’s central concern: inherited structures shape people’s lives, but they are not the only way people can organize themselves.
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Festival recognition and film details
Masaan was selected for Un Certain Regard at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Promising Future Prize ex-aequo. Macassar Productions also lists the Cannes FIPRESCI Prize and a 2016 Golden Lotus Best First Film Award for Ghaywan. The awards mark the film’s festival history; they do not erase the mixed edges in its storytelling that Ramnath identifies. Cannes film record; Macassar Productions.
Macassar lists the film as a 2015 Hindi-language, colour production in 1:85 format, with a length of 103 minutes. Ramnath’s 2015 review calls it 109 minutes; the sources do not explain the discrepancy, so neither figure should be treated as universally definitive. Macassar Productions; Scroll.
Rank #4
- Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk has English audio.
Verdict: hope without an easy rescue
Masaan is most compelling as a film about people caught between decay and renewal. Its interwoven stories show how caste, money, shame and inherited work constrain ordinary lives, while its observational style leaves room for tenderness and change. Some writing is too explicit, and the film does not fully pursue every consequence, but its final movement toward possibility feels earned precisely because it is partial. The hope here is not escape from history; it is the fragile chance to live beyond what has been handed down.
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