Director's Desk

There are some questions still to be answered, why the Film Makers from Indian Soil don’t know how to make 'Good' historical or Biographical Movies…? This film is again a proof of that. Nevertheless even British People said that we never understand the importance of History and don't know how to write. We always believe in superfluous mythological tale which tones up our brain to satisfy superstitions and our perpetual struggle to run away from the hard facts which may unearth those cognizance which is tough to gulp…

What a Man! Till some time back I didn’t know him at all but because of  my very detailed research on Buddha and Tourism,it gave the opportunity to amplify my knowledge about him. A man belongs to an untouchable cast “Mushar” of vIllage Gehlor, Gaya (Bihar) which has tradition to eat Mouse. This Man Dashrath Manjhi, single handedly chiseled and broken down the gargantuan stony Mountain and made a path through it, he unabatedly spent 22 long years with chisel and hammer just to bow down that Stone Man who forced villagers to take 45 kms long turn to reach a tiny city to fulfill their day to day requirements. This is one of the most dramatic story of India just like super hero types!

But Ketan Mehta just diminished Manjhi's figure in every possible way. When I was watching I felt that director was in utmost hurry to finish! Poorly researched, ill-treated, lost in all authenticity.When we are talking about 1962, one should understand that era of tyrannical feudal rule and most importantly the meaning of poverty, I think Ketan Mehta was not even in mood of to discuss the poverty line, uneducated people and the area from where Dashrath Manjhi belongs, not even understanding the meaning of freedom… Here we are showing the present generation bore well, imaginative love which was hard to accept. In long period of time I was only impressed with Masaan movie's dialogue which has authentic Bihari (Magdhi) tone similarly Manjhi belongs to very remote area,doesn’t have a right tone to speak “Magdhi”, what a farce…? Really I mean, it’s a most pathetic attempt to tell the story of The Legend…  

Nawazuddin Siddiqui was unclear about the fact weather he wants to portray himself as a Hero of the film or simply passionate Dashrath Manjhi, Radhika Apte fails to deliver the act even struggled to speak language, she only succeeded as sensual feminine.In other actors, Tigmanshu is cold, Ashraf over did but Pankaj Tripathi again did  a rememberable role.  

I must say this story has all the strength to win foreign accolades even win the Oscar but sorry Mr. Mehta you failed to understand the layers of emotion and after independence,poor India. Before making this film you should have watched some Shyam Benegal films… 

Masaan has many things in the pocket, good Story-screenplay-lead and Direction but I am not afraid to say that it doesn’t have depth which can intrigue me to feel the momentum of all its motion. Masaan has already received many accolades at Cannes Film Festivals, similarly my coveted desire turned me to Make a hectic run to watch this film. So even after getting exhausted I was in the mood to swing this from the repertoire. The scene opens in the small theatre at Big Cinema which has the capacity  of 60-70 people but there were hardly 10 inside, so I felt little more comfort to spread my legs and also breath but this privilege has something more to come, in the midst of running Masaan (Samshaan more common name) suddenly my nostril started feeling some rancid smell, 1stly I thought that this smell comes from the sweating body of Devi (Richa Chadda) and Piyush when they were in the mode of sexual discoveries. But on my turn I saw a person who was there just to watch it for its ‘A’ certification.

And my journey started with mortuary smell ,second track opens with the bright guy who is a polytechnic student but also burns corpses at Varanasi Ghat, happened to meet a cute girl but when their love deepens, films deepens and so also my nose deepens with smell, but when I decided to shift my seat a whelming twist sedates me to be there.

My story and their story revolves around Mortuary but what is missing in both the story is more grisly truth of Masaan, which needs more knowledge and research. Here I don’t give any such kind of superficial thought, in my life span I once went to mortuary and what I saw was just a verminous experience which can’t be explainable.

So here the main protagonist is representing the Masaan which has love-apathy and grief but what Masaan doesn’t have is Past and Future, it has only present in its ashes. There is no idealistic mooring in these frames but what is eating inside me is that when every junction is so much mated like anything, except few scenes, all were flowing perfectly but still unable to swamp me into Ganga for a single dip.

So the Scene ends with the message of Time is healer… Time is Killer… Time is pillar but only one thing is eternal that is living frame of life… But I sincerely appreciate Pantoms for promoting these kinds of cinema which has no takers and I feel sorry for that.