MASAAN - Pyres, pandits and a story set in Varanasi

Pyres, pandits and a story set in Varanasi

When Neeraj Ghaywan contacted Avinash Arun in January 2014, he sounded desperate. In two days' time, he was scheduled to go to Varanasi to shoot a pitch video to attract funding for his film Masaan from the international market at the Sundance Film Festival. But Neeraj's director of photography backed out from the project. He was hoping Avinash would step in immediately.

The duo had been friends for a long time now, sharing innumerable cups of coffee, cigarettes and notes when they were students at the Film and Television Institute of India. They had worked together on Anurag Kashyap's short film, The Day After Everyday. Neeraj was the associate director and Avinash the cinematographer.

When Neeraj called, Avinash was busy with Killa, his directorial debut, which was being screened in the Panorama Selection at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival in two weeks' time. "I was caught up in post-production and hadn't even started on the subtitles," recalls Avinash. "That's when it struck me that Neeraj is a master at subtitling."

The two made a pact: Neeraj would subtitle Killa and Avinash would shoot Masaan. "I fell in love with Varanasi and the team over the next three months," smiles Avinash.

Masaan received a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival this year and won two honours: the FIPRESCI Prize in the main competition section and a special prize for debut films. It tells the story of a lower caste boy, Deepak Chaudhary (Vicky Kaushal), who is hopelessly in love with Shalu (Shweta Tripathi). There's a second story revolving around a father and his daughter, Vidyadhar (Sanjay Mishra), and Devi Pathak (Richa Chadha), who find themselves in the middle of a sexual controversy within a religious set-up.

Avinash informs that to prepare for his role of a pious pandit, Sanjay Mishra actually lived on a boat on the Ganges. "For two months, he dressed, ate and lived like a Benarasi baba. He had turned into one at the end of the first 10 days itself. After pack up, we would all gather on his boat and he regaled us with anecdotes," he reminisces.

The rest of the cast and crew lived with the locals at Manikarnika Ghat and Harishchandra Ghat, building what Avinash calls "an emotional connect". They witnessed births and deaths, celebrated festivals and finally got access to shoot cremations.

"You can smell death on the Ghats which have been used as cremation grounds for generations. One two-minute shot I filmed was the burning of a body. Even though it was a wide angle shot, my hands got burnt, my body felt like it was on fire and my skin turned black. I wondered how young boys worked there for a living and faced the fire in the summers," Avinash shudders.

Since the film was shot in sync sound, even the sound mixer Vinit D'Souza was on the sets and often a part of Avinash's heated debates with Neeraj, along with the first assistant director, Karuna Dutt. All of them were working for free. "Today, we're one family. We recently met and have decided to travel to Varanasi again, soon," Avinash signs off.