Neeraj Ghaywan tells Christy Varghese that he shot Masaan to bring out the lesser known stories of small cities without diluting their essence
When Neeraj Ghaywan was sweating it out in the ghats of Varanasi, shooting his debut film Masaan, never, in his wildest dreams, did he hope for the movie to be co critically appreciated in the country. “let alone winning two awards at Cannes,” he said, heaving a sigh of content.
Though academically he is an MBA student, Ghaywan has always been a movie aficionado, and he tells us that for a while now he has been watching movies as an art form. The first vivid memory he has, of an association with films other than just watching and enjoying them, is through the now defunct site, passionforcinema.com, a hub for cinema lovers, where he would constantly update his blog. Ghaywan is among those select few people who loves to unwind by going to places they aren’t familiar with — where they don’t know anyone. “I am the kind of person who revels in solitude after a hard day’s work,” he describes himself. With two movies (Shorts and Masaan) and two Cannes appearance (the first in 2012 as an Assistant Director for Gangs of Wasseypur), Ghaywan has for the moment cleared his workspace and plans on doing nothing for now after the hectic preparations for the release of Masaan.
“The buzz created by its appearance in the Cannes Film Festival helped the movie a lot. If it had not featured there, only a quadrupled investment in this movie would have resulted in its present widespread popularity,” said Ghaywan.
He feels that a lot of people believe that going to the Cannes is equivalent to patting oneself on the back but disagrees with this misconception. “Beyond what meets our eyes, there is a lot of work going on in the background. Cannes is an amalgamation of the efforts of numerous people. Apart from that, it is a wonderful opportunity to open your perspective and look at people and objects through the viewpoints in movies of others,” he points out.
The director is under the opinion, and rightly so, that since a long while now movies have been made in such a way so as to achieve exceptional box office numbers, with the focus on fight sequences and raunchy scenes et al. “This trend is at times quite worrisome. But I was happy to observe that this year, with movies likePiku and NH10, script-driven films are making an appropriate impact on the audience,” he sighed.
Masaanis a movie which has a dual storyline, with the male lead playing the role of the son of a crematorium in-charge, while the female lead’s carnal fetish lands her in trouble, with Varanasi as a backdrop. While people have been under the impression that the movie unfolds the double standards of society, Ghaywan disagrees with that line of thought. “We had no intention of dishing outMasaan as a socio-political movie. What we have tried is telling a story that tackles the old-world thinking. We have tried to depict people’s attempt at making an escape, from their individual struggles in their own subjective ways,” he justifies.
On being asked whether he agreed with the description of critics, that Masaan is a coming of age movie, the director paused before breaking into hearty laughter. “That is their perception, but I am very much satisfied with it. The typical modern India mocks small cities. But what they overlook is that even these ‘small cities’ have their own enchanting stories. In Masaan, we presented a deep internal view present in the stories, the way they are. And as you can see, we aren’t doing bad,” he signs off, reminding us that no story is good or bad, but every story is special in its own way.