Internationally acclaimed film Masaan or Fly Away Solo has been honoured by the prestigious FIPRESCI critics prize, at the Cannes film festival. It won in the Un Certain Regard Category, which runs parallel to the competition for the main prize, Palme d’Or.
Masaan is a joint production by Manish Mundra, Macassar Productions, Arte France Cinema, Sikhya Entertainment and Phantom Films. It stars newcomers Vicky Kaushal and and Shweta Tripathi, along with Richa Chadda and Sanjay Mishra. The film received a five minute standing ovation after the premier on May 20.
Masaan ‘s narrative is set in the holy city of Benares, and shows how the characters are connected with the river Ganga. It is a heartfelt tale of class and gender inequality in contemporary India. The movie weaves together two separate stories of people struggling to overcome societal pressure. Ghaywan worked as an assistant director to Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur , which received acclaim at Cannes in 2012, finding new markets for younger film-makers.
“I was always curious about what a man, who encounters death in his day-to-day life, thinks about mortality. That’s where the idea for Masaan came,” Ghaywan had told PTI before his trip to Cannes
Other Indian films winning acclaim were, Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox and Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court. Gurvinder Singh’s Chauti Koot , which explores the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination in Punjab, was also premiered at the Un Certain Regard category of the festival.
Feature image source: Rediff