Filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan made a powerful debut with the 2015 film Masaan. In a recent chat with IMDb India, Neeraj recalled that one of the most surreal experiences he had during that time was when he received an email from filmmaker Martin Scorsese praising his debut feature.
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Ghaywan shared in the chat that it was his producer Melita Toscan du Plantier who showed Masaan to Scorsese. “My producer Melita Toscan du Plantier had shown Masaan to Martin Scorsese. That sentence still feels unreal to me,” he said. Even though Ghaywan was not present at the screening that Scorsese attended, he was delighted that the Goodfellas director connected with the film’s characters. “Him watching for those hours, connecting with Devi, Deepak and Shalu, laughing with them, falling in love with them and even getting emotional for them, that just made a very strange, surreal connection that I found with him even when I was not there,” he said.
Martin Scorsese wrote to Neeraj Ghaywan after watching Masaan. His note read, “I was finally able to screen your film Masaan, and wanted to congratulate you on a powerful debut feature. Beautifully made, subtly woven and ultimately very moving. Thank you for sharing it with me. All my best, Marty.”
Ghaywan recalled that reading the email felt like a “life changing experience.” He said, “And then to read his email, this lovely note that he had sent. It just felt like one of those really life changing experiences as they say. It was like almost, you wish that slyly this had gone on your epitaph, but not for real. It was simply magical.”
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Masaan was an Indo-French production starring Vicky Kaushal, Shweta Tripathi, Richa Chaddha, Sanjay Mishra, Pankaj Tripathi, among others. The film was screened at the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival.
