Full of artfully shot scenes, Banaras gives your right brain something to feast on, while the left tries to figure out for conclusion.
This is a love story between a girl Shwetambri( Urmila Matondkar) from highly disciplined Brahmin family and a young musician(Ashmit Patel) from a lower caste.
The relationship between them tries to change the lives of many.Urmila is a young, beautiful and bubbly daughter of a renowned family of rich Brahmins (Raj Babbar and Dimple Kapadia). She is a science student and also progressive. She does not believe in set norms of life. She chances to meet Soham, played by Ashmit Patel, of a low caste and working as a music teacher. Besides, he is also a protégé of a mystic guru known as Babaji (Naseeruddin Shah). Soham and Shwetambri meet and they strike a chord immediately.
From the opening moments to the closing shot, Banaras is a unique experience.
The plot is loaded with the unexpected events. Until the final scenes, it’s impossible to be sure of anyone or anything. The biggest question that is raised by the characters and stays with us is, what is the mystery?
But the film is not without faults. The makers have aimed the film at the gentry audience. The treatment is too city centric and its quite difficult to follow a film with heavy usage of technical jarks and importantly, it lacks the staple diet of an avid Indian cinegoer, ingredients such as light moments and comedy.
Technically, the cinematography, sound effects and shot execution stand out. Dialogues are perfect.
The film gets a major boost due to the efficient performances. Urmila is superb in a role that fits her like a glove.Dimple excels, more so towards the latter part. Ashmit Patel delivers a fine performance.
On the whole, Banaras is more of a city film that will find patronage at metros mainly