Review: Masaan - Splendid little cinematic gem

Masaan, first-time director Neeraj Ghaywan's dark yet bewitching ode to Varanasi, is an outstanding piece of cinema that deserves every bit of the hype generated by its Cannes success. The film is remarkable as much for its sense of sustained cultural fidelity as for its finely etched, believable characters that grow quietly but surely on the audience. A bulk of the action if it could be called that, given that much of the drama in Masaan is passive and internal unfolds in and around a cremation ground. While the funeral pyres provide an immersive backdrop, they also serve to denote the crackling bonfires in the troubled hearts of the three principal characters. Life, death, love, guilt, grief, morality, rebellion, salvation, freedom .Masaan is filled with an array of emotional touchpoints that propel its many narratives forward. The film is steeped in the ethos of Varanasi without taking recourse to any of the visual cliches associated with the holy city religious rituals, ganja-smoking sadhus, meditating yogis or tonsured mourners. What Masaan offers instead is a trio of tangible and interesting individuals caught in moral cleft-sticks as they grapple with the unsettling changes sweeping through the small town.Their dilemmas are either of their own making or are brought on by destiny, but each of them is far too spirited to be cowed by externally imposed strictures.