Banaras (2006)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Pankaj Parashar

Writers:

Javed Siddiqui (dialogue)
L.C. Singh (written by)

Release Date:

7 April 2006 (India)

Genre:

Musical | Drama

Tagline:

No matter what you believe... no matter what you have learnt... Setu Creations presents... from the oldest living city on the planet... the truth so powerful... that it will change the course of your life... forever.

Plot:

A mystic love story... between two people of different castes... set in the oldest living city on Earth...

Plot Keywords:

India | Buddhism | Ganges | Hinduism | Benares

Cast

Urmila Matondkar	...	Shwetambari M. 'Shweta' Nath
Naseeruddin Shah	...	Babaji
Dimple Kapadia	...	Gayatri M. Nath
Raj Babbar	...	Mahendra 'Mahen' Nath
Ashmit Patel	...	Soham
Akash Khurana	...	Dr. Gopal Bhattacharya
Arif Zakaria	...	Inspector Satpal Shukla
Javed Khan	...	Gunjan Juari
Rajeev Mishra	...	Mahamaya
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chetana Das
Meenal Patel	...	Dadi
Aditi Pratap	...	Anjali G. Bhattacharya
Tara		(as Tahra)

Also Known As:

Banaras: A Mystic Love Story (India: English title)
Ek Dhun Banaras Kee (India: Hindi title) (working title)

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Banaras Hindu University - BHU, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Company:

Setu Creations

Trivia:

On 2 March 2006, a five-hour long puja (prayer) was performed for the success of the film. The puja was conducted by 16 Pundits, and occurred on the banks of the River Ganges at the holy Dasashwamedh Ghat. It was attended by the film's producer and writer L.C. Singh and director Pankaj Parashar. The next day, another puja was performed inside the Vishwanath Temple.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The "grandmother" tells Soham that Kabir was an orphan found on the banks of Ganges river. In reality, Kabir was found by a water-well in Lahartara, a suburb of Varanasi.

A beautifully made film

What a refreshing movie. I was expecting a typical three hour Bollywood entertainment, with pretty settings and some songs and dances. I was surprised and quite moved by the film afterward. first of all, the mystical subject matter interested me and the wonderful settings in Banaras provides authentic inspirations to me, the cinema photographer did a great job by setting atmospheric tones visually. Urmila looks stunning in this film both as a young girl in love and years later a spiritual teacher. Once again, she proves herself a versatile actress in this film, her presence always brings an emotional depth to a story. The soundtrack in the movie is very beautiful and haunting, especially the music in some ritual scenes, I still can't forget the melodies. I especially appreciate the consistent mood in the storying telling, a solid two hours without usual three-hour Bollywood action/fighting scenes nor irrelevant comic sidetrack.