Today was one of those rare back-to-back movie days. But what was I to do, a lot of good movies have come out lately and I absolutely love the cinema experience. Watching in on the tiny screen of my computer just does not cut it.
Whenever I get these gloomy travel blues, I fight fire with fire and do what I do best- travel! Veeran had often told me about a drama set in our city but we always put off going there in favour for explorations further afield. With a need to explore, and a serious need to rest and relax after 2 months of long distance train journeys and 5.30am yoga wake ups, I knew that it was finally time to visit The Masan Maritime Movie Set.
When we visited at the end of November, the autumn foliage was just starting to turn brown but the temperature was still mild. The wee Scottish gypsy that I am, I was extremely chuffed to be out wearing a t-shirt in November. (Um, is this real life?)
The drama set is popular with Korean daytrippers, many of whom travel from all over the country to visit. Most of them want to see the scenes that their favourite movies were set in. For Veeran and I, we had never heard of any of the period dramas that were filmed there but we were excited for the opportunity to whip out the camera and spend a bit of time together after being apart for 2 months. (Awwww.)
Yeah, I loved spotting them against the backdrop of the old houses. They were having a huge photoshoot but not sure if they were actually acting anything out! Haha thanks for the compliment- I think no one else on the internet has ever spoken about Masan!
In Masaan, the sacred city of Varanasi, located on the banks of the Ganges, punishes transgressors of morality brutally. A young girl from a different caste captures the heart of Deepak, a young man from a low-income neighborhood sums up Masaan. The film starred Vicky Kaushal, Pankaj Tripathi, Richa Chadha, Sanjay Mishra, Shweta Tripathi, Satyakam, Saurabh Choudhary, Nikhil Sahni, and Bhagwan Tiwari.
An engineer, Aditya (Akshay Kumar), travels to Canada for training. There, he meets Jia (Katrina Kaif), a beautiful woman from an influential family. Fate keeps pushing the pair together, and even though both are already betrothed to others, Adi and Jia fall in love.
Shaadi Ke Side Effects, starring Farhan Akhtar and Vidya Balan, is one of the best romantic movies on Hotstar. Speaking about the story, Siddharth and Trisha lead a happy marital life until Trisha gets pregnant, and they find themselves struggling with the challenges of parenthood even after the arrival of their baby.
If you are a lover of romantic movies, Lootera is one of the best picks. In the story of the 2013 film, Pakhi, an aristocrat's daughter, falls in love with an archaeologist in 1953. Unbeknownst to her, he conducts a double life that jeopardizes their relationship.
One of the popular romantic movies is Finding Fanny. The romance-comedy drama follows Ferdie, an old postman, who decides to find his lost love, Stefanie, whom he calls Fanny, and embarks on a road trip with Angie, Savio, and Rosie. Don Pedro, a lustful artist, also accompanies them.
Shiddat is one of the best romantic movies you can enjoy on the OTT platform. A unique love story of Jaggi (Sunny Kaushal), who is madly in love with Kartika (Radhika Madan). He decides to swim across the seven oceans to meet her and stop her marriage.
Kaabil is a Bollywood movie about the life of Rohan (played by Hrithik Roshan), a young blind man who earns his living as a dubbing artist. Rohan is talented at manipulating his voice and mimicking people. One day, he meets Supriya (played by Yami Gautam), another blind person, and they fall in love.
They get married and are very happy, dreaming of a bright future together. However, their happiness is short-lived when Supriya is raped by Amit (played by Rohit Roy), the brother of a powerful minister, and his friend Wasim (played by Sahidur Rahaman).
Arpita Sarkar has 3 years of experience in content writing and editing in the entertainment industry. She has penned 1000+ of entertainment stories. With a Master's Degree and first class in English literature, Arpita has exceptional taste in music and fashion too. When not working, you'll find her singing or journaling.
Masaan was released in 2015 and it was a France-India coproduction. The movie got rave reviews at Cannes Film festival and was awarded the Un Certain Regard prize for the director with a promising career. However, the audience in India hardly paid a lip service as it dealt with issues like caste system and State oppression. Caste issues are considered archaic in the popular consciousness and the narrative weaved around them is that modern India is hardly evolving. The new generation allegedly does not confront these issues on a daily basis.
Masaan on the lines of movies like Pariyerum Perumal (2018) weaves the discourse that there might be a possibility to overcome caste barriers through education, thereby alluding to the possibility of creating some common ground: economic progression and education, which can make different castes inhabit together. In the light of this very discourse, this chapter aims to examine the implicit narrative that caste, like its Western (and also Oriental now) counterpart, class, needs to be a surmountable phenomenon, as opposed to the need of its complete abolition, and to delve into the question of (Indian) cinema vacillating on almost all occasions at suggesting this absolute eradication of caste.
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