Subhash K Jha reveals 10 unknown facts about the Neeraj Ghaywan’s compelling and devastating drama, Masaan, which starred Richa Chadha and Vicky Kaushal, that stunned when it released in 2015 and stills moves audiences today.
1. The part of the caste-challenged Romeo was first offered to Rajkummar Rao. He had date issues. That’s when Vicky Kaushal stepped in.
2. Neeraj Ghaywan is from the Dalit community and has faced some of the horrific discrimination that Kaushal is shown facing in the film.
3. Producer Madhu Mantena fought tooth and nail to get the project off the ground. He firmly believed in Neeraj Ghaywan and Masaan.
4. Masaan changed a lot of lives. With Masaan, Vicky Kaushal had to start from scratch. Though he had worked in and around Varanasi as an assistant director to Gangs Of Wasseypur he was not familiar with Varanasi-proper. It was like a whole world opening up to him.
5. Vicky Kaushal was so shaken by the atrocities that his character Deepak Kumar faces that he fell ill repeatedly , until he decided that he would leave Deepak on location each time the shooting was over. Or else he would have lost his sanity.
6. The plot about Richa Chadha’s character Devi being harassed by a cop in Varanasi after she is caught having sex with her boyfriend in a hotel room, was taken from a newspaper headline. Richa was so traumatized by her part she would weep for hours after shooting.
7. The role of Devi’s father was offered to Manoj Bajpayee. When he opted out, Sanjay Mishra stepped in and gave a moving performance. To this day, Manoj regrets turning down the film, though he feels he may not have been convincing as Richa’s father.
8. July 2015’s double whammy S S Rajamouli’s Baahubali and Kabir Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan took the wind from the sails of debutant director Neeraj Ghaywan’s powerful yet delicate masterpiece. And yet Masaan held its own.
9. The hard-hitting film which won a top honour at the Cannes Film Festival changed its mind about asking the Revising Committee(RC) of Censor Board Of Film Certification(CBFC) for the cuts advised by the Examining Committee(EC) to be restored. In an unprecedented move producer Madhu Mantena asked that CBFC to ignore its earlier request to take the film to the Revising Committee. The producers requested that the film be passed with the cuts without going to the RC. It was passed with cuts for Adults Only.
10. After Masaan, Vicky Kaushal did a film entitled Zubaan. His mother had joked that his next film should be titled Kisaan.
