Sei sulla pagina 1di 14

Shashwat 1

Theme of Existence in Masaan and Ship of Theseus

Submitted to
Ms. Amanpreet Kaur
UID: 23999

Submitted by:
Shashwat
Registration No: 11617009

Under the Supervision of


Ms. Amanpreet Kaur
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Lovely Professional University
Phagwara, Punjab
Shashwat 2

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Shashwat, a student of Department of English, has successfully


completed his dissertation work titled “Theme of Existence in Masaan and Ship of Theseus”
at Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab.

Ms. Amanpreet Kaur


Assistant Professor
Department of English
Lovely Professional University
Phagwara, Punjab

Signed……………………………. Date………………….
Shashwat 3

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that work entitled, “Theme of Existence in Masaan and Ship of Theseus”
has been carried out by me under the supervision of Ms. Amanpreet Kaur, Department of
English, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab. No part of this dissertation has
formed the basis for the award of any degree or fellowship previously.

Shashwat
Registration No: 11617009
Lovely Professional University
Phagwara, Punjab

Signed……………… Date………….......
Shashwat 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I feel immense pleasure to express my deep sense of gratitude to my supervisor, Ms.


Amanpreet Kaur, Assistant Professor, Department of English in Lovely Professional
University for guidance, constructive criticism, creative suggestions and valuable help in this
research work.

I deeply express my gratitude to my parents and classmates for their encouragement and
inspiration at every step of present work.

Date: 16 Nov. 2018

Place: Phagwara, Punjab Shashwat


Shashwat 5

Abstract:

The concept of life and death has been inherent since the existence of this universe.

How it’s been dealt with and how it’s seen by humans keep evolving with time. One,

somehow, cannot point their finger at it and say to have unravelled its mysteries as it

is much larger an entity for mere humans to even get an iota of its understanding.

Still, various thinkers and philosophers have always given a perspective about it – be

it its inutility or its significance. Innumerable works have been published that somewhat

try to portray an image of the limited knowledge that is sought to grasp.

Cinema has always been an important medium for the depiction as well as entertainment

of the society since its inception. But there are some films that stand apart from the

usual lot and take a route of exploring deeper perspectives. Two such films in Hindi

cinema are: Ship of Theseus (2012) and Masaan (2015).

This research paper is an attempt to explore how life and death make up as an

important element in both the films, either literally or metaphorically, and somehow is

a completion of both the films together. Masaan deals with the beginning and the end

for the major part and its effect. Ship of Theseus, on the other hand, is concerned with

what causes the disarray in this circle of life and death. Identity, existence, nihilism,

and liberation provide a firm base to this paper which intends to further extend their

relation to the films.

Outcomes:

• A deeper study about the intertitle.

• Looking into the question of identity and existence.

• Dealing with the acceptance of fate.


Shashwat 6

Introduction:

The search to meaning of one’s existence is not something that is done intentionally

with a proper blueprint to achieve a certain goal but is rather a process that is perpetual.

It evolves with the passage of time but not specifically to reach to a fix point, but to

leave back its crumbs so that it could further evolve into a better shape. People do

question their place in this universe and how the universe impacts them to be who

they are. The causality of everything that happens concerns our identity, and every act

that takes place has its role to play in this universe. Ship of Theseus poses a question

mark on the identity of existence itself. How realisation of one’s unique position in

this universe and their force that forms up the space in this vast cosmos is purposeful

in its own periphery and is maintained, come what may.

The film Ship of Theseus begins with the following intertitle:

“As the planks of Theseus' ship needed repair, it was replaced part by part, up

to a point where not a single part from the original ship remained in it, anymore.

Is it, then, still the same ship?

If all the discarded parts were used to build another ship, which of the two, if

either, is the real Ship of Theseus?”

The above intertitle describes the paradox related to the Ship of Theseus.

On the other hand, Masaan begins with the following intertitle:

“ज द़िं गी क्या है, अनाजिर में ह़ु ूर-ए-तरतीब,

मौत क्या है, इन्हीं अज् ा का परे शााँ होना।“

-जिज नारायण ‘चकबस्त’

which translates to:


Shashwat 7

“What is life? A delicate arrangement of the five elements,

What is death? A slight disturbance of this equilibrium.”

-Brij Narayan ‘Chakbast’

Masaan goes on to portray the bereavement that death causes. It becomes a struggle

to exist for the two main characters in the film. It’s based in Banaras, a town with

rich cultural significance and believed to be a place that has the capability to lead

people to salvation. As Mark Twain said about Banaras: “Banaras is older than history,

older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put

together.”

This paper attempts to draw parallels but also tries to connect the circle of life and

death through the films Masaan and Ship of Theseus.


Shashwat 8

Subject:

There is a driving force behind every cause and effect; and everything that exists in

its totality doesn’t really stands alone but is in a relation with its surroundings – be it

on a small scale or a large one. The case with Ship of Theseus is the same, as it

takes the subject of organ transplant in relation to the famous paradox of its namesake.

And in the film’s case, it isn’t the ship but humans whose parts are replaced with

those of others. The significant difference that arises between the two cases – the

thought experiment and the film – is that in a living organism, every part has a life

of its own, unlike the planks of the sip that are replaced. Each organ in a person's

body is closely associated to them as like their identity. The phenomena of life and

death affects the person's whole, not only their parts.

So, when the photographer in the first story of Ship of Theseus goes through cornea

transplant, she experiences that her ability to click photographs, relying wholly on her

instincts and not eyes, is no more with her. She would click better photographs when

she had no vision in her eyes but after she got that, she could no longer remain the

artist she was. Now, there is a question on her own identity – if she actually is the

same person she was before the transplant. The change that took place in her was not

just of bodily element from another person but rather also of the definition of her own

existence. The feeling of not being one’s real self hits her.

A person’s existence is not only at physical or psychological level but it’s also based

on the identity that these things have contributed in the construction of that specific

entity’s meaning. Even if the gradual change of a person is taken into consideration,

the change is solely happening to them – they are amidst the causality. The outer

replacement of their body is coming out as a medium that shifts them to a position of

dilemma about their own self. They are no longer only them. At the same time, they
Shashwat 9

are someone else also – which brings conflict in themselves about every deed of theirs,

too.

The presence of duality in nature is evident through course – such as life and death.

It’s so to find a balance between these dualities and keep walking on the rope as it

exists between them. It’s the second story of Ship of Theseus – of a monk – that

discusses about the causality and the thought that this universe has meaning in the way

it works. This story places existence on a pedestal and looks at it through a wonderful

yet humble perspective. The monk’s character Maitreya has a conversation with his

protégé Charavaka about how contradictions and polarities are the two ends of the same

rope. One has to eventually get liberation from perpetual the circle of life and death.

Now, this is where Masaan’s intertitle is coherent with the thought. As ‘Chakbast’

wrote, “What is life? A delicate arrangement of the five elements. What is death? A

slight disturbance of this equilibrium.”

Masaan’s intertitle in itself only creates a periphery around the concept of existence.

In Hinduism, the belief is that the body is made up of five elements: Earth, Air, Fire,

Water, and Space. Masaan is what constitutes to the beginning and the end, as Ship

of Theseus presents about what happens when fiddled with the middle. Both delicate

arrangement and the disturbance form a circle that also depicts the duality.

There are instances in the Masaan that display the efforts its characters put in in order

to break out of the minimal state in which they are trapped in – a state that is both

physical and psychological. These efforts could be taken as an attempt to escape the

monotonous form that existence has taken up in their lives. The setting of Banaras

adds to the motif as this is a place where people come to seek liberation and the

characters themselves are seeking an escape from this place itself. It constructs a
Shashwat 10

dilemma in both – the characters minds and the attempt to escape from a small town.

Although, this small town is said to have, what Richard Lannoy has called a “mythic

understructure,” carrying its own unique significance. Devi remarks about the town that

the mindedness is narrow as small the town is – so as to make an analogy of thought

and space.

In the monk’s story of Ship of Theseus, there are recurring mentions – either direct or

derivative – of nihilistic philosophy which is mainly put forth by the character Charavaka

during his conversations with Maitreya about their view of existence – including the

smallest of creatures that have a life-force. Possessing clashes in terms of stance, both

ideologies, though, somewhat have their own truth to it. However, Masaan, in no way

carries any kind of nihilistic stand on any ground. It’s full of meaning or the search

of it. Devi is in search for a space where her sexual freedom isn’t questioned. Deepak

is seeking to breakout from what his family has been doing since ages – burning

corpses. Even love is trying to survive amidst the caste barriers in that town. Shaalu,

belonging to an upper-caste family, realises that her family wouldn’t accept Deepak,

who is from a lower-caste, as her lover. The question of existence in Masaan is not

only of the body or the identity, it’s also about the emotions.

Another important segment that carries significance in these films are the songs. Masaan

has three while Ship of Theseus has only one major song. Among the three songs in

Masaan, the one song that presents the struggle and the magic of existence is Mann

Kasturi Re. It talks about the leftover that remains when one is not able to achieve

anything in its whole form – something that remains incomplete.

“Bikhrey bikhrey chhand sa tehle, dohon mein ye bandh na paave

Naache hoke phirki lattoo, khoje apni dhoorii re”


Shashwat 11

There comes a moment in everyone’s life in which they feel lost and knock different

doors in search of meaning even if the meaning is lying beneath themselves only.

Moreover, desires are like musk and humans are the deer who try to grasp them but

can’t. Acceptance has to pave its way into the person so that peace could take place

within. It’s also like getting a kind of liberation from the pain or suffering that life

throws.

On the other hand, the song that appears in Ship of Theseus is Naham Janami. The

whole song is in Prakrit and it translates into English as:

“There are no celestial beings I know of, there is no God.

Neither heaven nor hell.

Neither a preserver, nor an owner of this universe.

Neither a creator nor a destroyer.

No eternal judge.

There is only the law of causality.

I take responsibilities for my actions and their consequences.

The smallest of creatures have a life-force just like mine.

May I always have such compassion.

May I never cause any harm to anybody.

The truth is multi-faceted, and there are many ways to reach it.

May I find balance in this duality.

I pray, may my karma of ignorance be shed.

May my true self be liberated from the cycle of life and death.

And attain moksha.”


Shashwat 12

As mentioned earlier, Ship of Theseus talks about causality to a greater extent. “The

truth is multi-faceted” – as Charavaka and Maitreya were having this conversation

where Charavaka initiates:

"You say you're an atheist and at the same you believe in the concept of soul, which

I think is rather convenient. I do not think karmic causality is a reason enough for

anyone to behave ethically. You know, that there is retribution of any kind, in this life

or any other, it's like a weak man's hope for some cosmic revenge.”

"I agree with you. It is very easy to believe in something out of fear and guilt. All

ethics must be arrived at in isolation of religious beliefs."

"But are you able to practice that?"

"I hope I am. Contradictions and polarities are two ends of the same rope."

Both of them are having different perspectives about existence and trying to find a

balance in the duality that they are experiencing even while having a conversation.

The purpose in the song is to attain liberation in this life so as to break this cycle

of life and death.

Ship of Theseus has another story which deals with kidney transplant and the case of

morality related to it. The morality here is on individual level. While in Masaan, Devi

has a fight with the society as the case of her engaging in sex with her boyfriend

doesn’t remain only to herself. On an individual level, she is of the notion that there’s

nothing wrong that took place whereas concerning the town and the society, the stance

of morality is opposite. Both the characters want to shed this weight off and continue

their lives back. Here, stances are different but the outcome matters a lot in both of

the cases.
Shashwat 13

The ending in both the film has a take on acceptance. In Ship of Theseus, all the three

of them, along with some others, come together to watch some videos shot by the

person whose organs they had received. In the last shot, all of them are together in

the room and the video that they are watching ends with the shadow of the cave

explorer – the organ donor. It creates an image of not the actual presence of that

person but just a form of him – as he is, in a way, present inside all the people that

are watching the videos shot by him. It also creates a sense that one cannot actually

break out to whatever they wish. There remains a sense that the circle doesn’t have

any gap; it’s complete in here. In Masaan too, Devi and Deepak have to let go of the

bereavement and come in terms with acceptance despite how difficult seemed. They

break out of the small town but not of the connection. There is river Ganga; and there

lies the acceptance, too. In the last scene, both Deepak and Devi get on a boat to

Sangam – confluence of rivers. Symbolically, it’s confluence of their different yet

similar grief in a form of acceptance.


Shashwat 14

References:

Gandhi, Anand, Ship of Theseus, UTV Motion Pictures, Fortissimo Films, 2012

Ghaywan, Neeraj, Masaan, Drishyam Films, Phantom Films, Macassar Productions,

Sikhya Entertainment, 2015

History of Varanasi. Varanasi City, https://www.varanasicity.com/history-of-

varanasi.html

Sachdeva, Pankaj. “Masaan – of Life and Death.” Blogspot, Dichotomy of Irony, 24

May 2016, https://dichotomy-of-irony.blogspot.com/2016/05/masaanof-life-and-death.html

Taseer, Aatish. “Like Rome, Mecca or Jerusalem, Benares spurs the spiritual

imagination, writes its newest chronicler.” Scroll, 20 Oct. 2018

https://scroll.in/article/898879/like-mecca-rome-or-jerusalem-benares-spurs-the-spiritual-

imagination-writes-its-newest-chronicler

Potrebbero piacerti anche