Cinema Connoisseur's Cave

Masaan in its English translation means crematorium, but the film, in its wider release, is named Fly Away Solo. This dichotomy of tone between the translations can be seen throughout the film and that is where Neeraj Ghaywan scored in his brilliant debut feature. The film is uplifting but heartbreaking, reflecting on both sorrow and hope and thus transcends to something that can be as refreshing as the morning air. In Masaan, the story, set in Banaras, is woven around two primary protagonists, Deepak(Vicky Kaushal) and Devi(Richa Chadda). One of them faces tragedy early in the film, and the other one sees its devastating form later. But, predictably, and here 'predictably' should not be taken in a negative way, both of their lives converge; one finding closure through struggle and another solace amidst loneliness. Masaan is not plot-driven, but character-driven; the like we see in Iranian and Romanian new wave films. It is not much of a story-telling than portrayal of lif

Haider Vishal Bharadwaj’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s titular play ‘Hamlet’ is dark, gritty and thoroughly meticulous in craft. There is always a beauty about snow white backdrop that provides the canvas to draw human fallacies in red.  ‘Haider’, set in the backdrop of Kashmir proves to be violently beautiful. But it’s not the violence, or the prominent vengeance of ‘Hamlet’; nor the socio-political dogma that creating a ripple of controversy was faced by the people during the 95 Kashmir Conflicts,  that was the driving force of Haider. It was the awry and eerie love and relationship between the mother-son duo of Ghazala and Haider. The primary characters of the story, and their relationship did not deviate much from Hamlet in the film. But, just like his previous films on Shakespeare’s works, Bharadwaj triumphs, more prominently in this film, in the craft of blending the tragedy of the play with the emotional aspect of the story. Thus, the film becomes very unique and Bhar