Masaan
Set in present-day Varanasi, the plot of Masaan follows two seemingly separate stories that converge eventually.
The first of these tells the story of Devi. The film opens with her and her fellow student, Piyush, checking into a hotel room. They are interrupted during sex when the police bursts in, after being tipped off youngsters indulging in “indecent behaviour”. As the inspector records the barely clad Devi on his mobile phone, the boy Piyush, who also is barely clothed locks himself in the bathroom and commits suicide. Devi and her family are subjected to blackmail by the police, particularly by Inspector Mishra, who demands a hefty bribe of three lakhs from Vidyadhar Pathak, Devi’s father to hush up the matter. While he struggles to fulfill the demand, she switches jobs due to the 'stigma' associated. She eventually gets a government job in the railways in Varanasi. News regarding her pre-marital sexual indulgence reaches there, marred by the supposedly parochial mindset of people, she leaves Varanasi and joins a course in Allahabad.
The second narrative concerns Deepak, a boy (also from Varanasi) from the Dom community (a low-caste of corpse burners) whose family works in cremation ghat by burning funeral pyres. Deepak wants to transcend the restrictions of his caste. He studies Civil Engineering at a polytechnic college where he meets and falls in love with Shaalu, an upper-caste girl. They start meeting each other and during a trip to Allahabad at the banks of Ganga, Shaalu falls for Deepak and accepts his proposal. Back in Varanasi, Deepak tells her about his caste and the work he does of burning corpses. Shaalu remains firm and tells him that she will be with him even if her parents refuse. She asks him to focus on his placements and get a job, while she reaffirms her commitment to him.
However, unfortunately, during a pilgrimage trip along with her family, she dies in a ghastly bus accident. Her body with some other victims ends up at the same cremation ground. Deepak is shattered on seeing her dead body and loses all purpose in his life for a while. But eventually comes to cope with the support of his friends. He also gets an engineer's job in railways landing up in Allahabad.
The film reaches its climax as Devi comes to the bank of Ganga to immerse the gift Piyush had given to her on the fateful day in the hotel. Deepak notices her crying and offers her water to drink. A boatman beckons offering them a ride towards Sangam. They board the boat striking a conversation. Devi tells Deepak that this is her first time she is going towards Sangam. Deepak tells her he has been there earlier once and adds that there is a belief one should visit the Sangam at least twice, once alone and once in someone's company. With that, the film ends.
romantic