Losing people is one certainty of life. What’s uncertain is when and how that happens. Masaan not only depicts the grief of losing someone but also shows the process of healing. Despite not wanting to feel the pain, you feel it, for the loss Deepak (Vicky Kaushal) faces when Shaalu (Shweta Tripathi) no longer exists. And, as Devi Pathak (Richa Chadha) deals with her loss, she is almost convinced that suffering, pain and struggle are all because of her and not that inevitably life and the loss of another human being causes. This loss that we see, is not new to the Pathak family, they have experienced this loss earlier, Devi’s father, Vidyadhar Pathak (Sanjay Mishra) living a life of guilt, that of blaming himself for the loss of his wife, of being reminded it was his fault and of replicating it on Devi.
Unlike Ram-Leela, the characters here aren’t lucky enough (if I can say so) for not having to see the world without each other, but rather are left in a state of despair they think there is no returning from. We are left with the question just like Deepak, “why doesn’t this pain end?” An entire world to explore, people to meet and yet somehow we are all convinced that it ends here. It ends here with the beloved gone, and the lover left to mourn. The world we love seems to fall down crashing at our feet. And this is the moment where we all connect as humans, the inevitability, uncertainty and suffering that pain brings. A pain we all experience somewhere, sometime in our lives not knowing whether it’ll stop or when will we heal?
But, we do heal. With time at our own paces. Neither did Deepak nor did the Pathak’s wake up one morning thinking it was all good now. But slowly, gradually, through the 5 stages, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance they healed. From not wanting to talk to anyone, and Shikwa (complaints to God) to screaming and crying their hearts out, they healed. They crossed paths just like us, you and me. Without knowing their stories of grief, they trusted again. Because they’re not Ram- Leela and the world continues to be painfully beautiful with all the loving, losing and healing in it.