Reviews

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  ★★★★★ review by Varghese Eapen on Letterboxd

  First Day First Show

  Crowd - Hardly 15 people are visible

  Movie Gets Over

  Reaction of Thyself - Contemplative

  Question 1 - Why are we corrupt? Is it a human tendency to yearn for more even when we have more than enough?

  Question 2 - Why do we target only certain strata of society? Do we attain a moral victory? or does it prove our manhood?

  Question 3 - Who are we as a society to judge the decisions made by two people who desire each other? What right do we have make a tamasha out of it? Have you ever thought of these things from the other side of the fence?

  Question 4 - What goes thru our mind when we see the one we care about so deeply lying lifeless right before our eyes? Do we bawl ourselves to sleep? Or do we just move on as if nothing happened?

  A heartbreaking story erupts on the banks of Benares where enlightenment and death exist simultaneously.The movie sparkles with unforgettable performances from the entire cast,take a bow team you drove me to literal tears.Winner of
  
  the FIPRESCI Prize in the Un Certain Regard section and a 'Promising Future' prize (Prix de l'avenir) for debut films at the Cannes Film Festival this has become my favorite movie of the year!

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  ★★★★★ review by Rupam Mozumder on Letterboxd

  There is happiness, there is romance... and comedy...
  
  but life is nothing but an everlasting tragedy...

  Masaan is a love letter from India to world cinema...
  
  There is so much to say about this film..
  
  But I'm at loss for words to praise it right now...
  
  It left me numb and heartbroken...
  
  .
  
  Masaan is a film that will stay with me forever.....

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  ★★★★ review by Still Here🏳️‍🌈 on Letterboxd

  Moods of the film, its light that varies from eerie and ghastly to everyday to beautiful yet foggy, characters who go from deep happiness to profound sadness, their eyes looking for something more - those are all the best things that Masaan has to offer. Even if it would lose something in the script, it wins it all back in its mysterious, meditative pace and search. This is only Ghaywan's first feature film. Having worked as an assistant director to Anurag Kashyap (who also was producing this film) and in few short films, Masaan is already rather mature production full of promise that will be hopefully filled in the future - that being said, if I didn't love his approach here, I wouldn't expect greater things from him. The cast is also very strong, including Sanjay Mishra (whom I remember from another spiritual portrait in titular role of Ankhon Dekhi) and Kashyap "regular", relatively newcomer Vicky Kaushal (Bombay Velvet, Raman Raghav 2.0) - even Richa Chadha, despite her stoicism, manages to create a sense of agonizing pain yet determination to whatever she does. Ganges moves as deeply flawed reminder of hypocrisy yet ever-flowing spiritual landmark, the buildings stare at the lights that appear to riverbed as the souls of dead begin their journey in the cleansing fire, the people follow their senses, lost as always, but still always searching... Morning dawns once again. There is something in the atmosphere that moves us deeply.

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  ★★★★★ review by br2049 on Letterboxd

  film club screening #1:
  
  a surprising number of people showed up - 25 despite a conflicting session that took away some of our audience. aside from minor technical issues (which we fixed by having an impromptu interval) everything went off smoothly - and discussion went REALLY well, lots of interesting insights and views and just generally such a success. i'm so happy & i hope this works out!

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  ★★★★½ review by Kalpit Tandon on Letterboxd

  Masaan at a glance is a tapestry of emotions which expands over entire Benaras and yet forces one to look within. A city which ensures that neither dreams nor passions but only breaking skulls after death can teleport you to a different world.

  Raw, pulsating and utterly ambitious, you got to inhale it to feel it. Welcome aboard and immerse yourself in this visual poetry.

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