"Everyone may not be a great talent, but great talent can come from anywhere."
Good filmmaking doesn't demand or necessitate a manufactured grandeur.
All it needs is a skilled craftsman who understands the essence of the script and has a penetrating perspective and depth to his filmmaking.
MASSAN then, is an immensely natural, disturbing and moving portrayal of two protagonists faced with their biggest odds. Painted with remorse and poetry, the film has an insight and is thoroughly enriching.
Shot against the backdrop of U.P., the film has two different stories running in parallel. The female protagonist, whose sexual adventure with her boyfriend ends up tragically and the male protagonist's love and grief saga- form the film's premise.
The film has a lot to offer both in terms of its narrative and its substance.The entire ambience of a small town is beautifully captured with each character written in blood and flesh. Every character has his own turmoil, his own characteristics, his own grief making the display so compelling.
There are so many facets to the proceedings and each one so subtle and with much emotional depth.
The father-daughter confrontations feel authentic and has an alarming realistic polarity to it. The friction and the love they share are a treat to watch.
The romance has this infectious charm and innocence which is hard to find currently. For all those in their 30s and beyond will find the romance so very nostalgic.
The father-cop interactions reveals the shocking reality. No matter how defiant you stay, you have to bow down to the harsh truth.
The biggest strength of the script is that you can feel the pain of each character, their fear, their anguish and their remorse. You are smitten from the word go, and gets invested and engrossed gradually.
The beauty of the script is that by the end you have a smile on your face no matter how disturbing the circumstances were shown to be before.
There are moments of absolute brilliance too. The scene where the male protagonist gets a FB page print out of his lover, the scene where the female protagonist calls the house of his dead boyfriend to recover her money and many others are pure gems. The love, anguish and fear of the father, the resilience and defiance of the female protagonist, the sorrow and the melancholy of the male protagonist are all intertwined spendidly.
The music and lyrics are powerful and become a character in themselves. The acting is spell-binding. Every actor is terrific and succeeds in bringing out every possible emotion.
All in all, a perfect film of an imperfect world.
You will miss a lot if you miss this film. Highly recommended.
