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Is it merely a cultural thing that did not allow me the illusion that this film seeks to portray? Having visited India I know that this movie displays a very tiny facade of what Indians think would be appealing about their fascinating country. The Bollywood film _Ek Dhun Banaras Kee_(qv) never leaves the realm of comely mass entertainment.

So in great wonderment I saw only the most beautiful facades of the oldest holy city on river Ganges, a sadly polluted river shown here as clean as a mountain stream. There is no reality street life in this movie, we are forced into the unreal world of a film as if ordered by the city's Tourist Development Agency.

'Ashmit Patel'(qv)'s pretty-boy face is directed like a south-American music video with all smiles and no substance. There was no acting demanded of him. He would do well selling deodorant in France.

The story wants to be spiritually deep and socially conscious by juxtaposing two stylized lovers from different castes. The potential conflict are undramatically produced, after we are given about twenty minutes of showing the couple at Banares' famous temples and river banks, looking at each other in unspontaneously staged settings that really irks everyone who want to be swept away by a movie's illusions instead of watching a long toothpaste or chewing gum commercial. This is a good travel promotion or a boring music video, and one can only wonder what audience it was made for. If it is shown to Indians, they must be proud of a movie of aesthetic beauty that shows their country without problems, except the unfortunate castes system. Shown to western audiences it become a romantic travel film, and as we have seen, accepted both quite favorably by IMDb users of Indian decent and Westerners alike.

Besides a cast of pretty people --even Babaji the spiritual teacher floats about with the neatest beard and most perfect robes in white and red-- the film wants to teach basic Hindi and Buddhistic values. It even forewarns its audiences at the beginning that it does not want to promote superstitions, but in almost every scene the accoutrement of superstitious beliefs are shown: ornaments, mystic sculptures, flower petals strewn about, chants and incense. Even the character played by the beautiful 'Urmila Matondkar'(qv) indulges in dreamy superstitious rituals. I respect all belief systems, but if a director forewarns of something he is supposedly not wanting to promote, and we see it all over his film, we have a choice to either believe that he does not notice ritualistic superstitions any longer due to his cultural blindness, or that he really beliefs that his message has transgressed superstition. And it is exactly this message that one would have liked not to see running into sturdy road blocks.

Namely the endeavor to transgress a banal and forbidden love story without careful exposition, and fall into the trap of cinematographically created ambiance that actually overpowers the actors. Pretty pictures are nice if you can not travel to the heart of the holy city, but in this case the story suffers and certainly takes away from the filmmakers ambitions.

And the story is the age-old apparent conflict between science and religion. Do we get enough information and exposition to learn something new, or even care to contemplate this important topic? No. Is Banares well photographed? Yes, the parts that are devoid of real street life and real people, who normally bring life to the temples. Is there a tension between the lovers? No. Are we happy for them falling in love because we feel their hearts? No. Is the parent-child, castes conflict melodrama powerful enough to move us? No. Are age-old chants well produced like a music video? Yes, excellently. Does the movie do justice to the promos and hype about the alleged conflict of religious beliefs and modern science, or its presentations of the philosophy of love or even as found in romantic love? Nothing deep there. Is the storytelling moving the film forward? No, it stops too often to dwell on its on pretty pretensions.

It's eye candy at best, and the two protagonists do not connect except as another daft acting job. The dying dad at the beginning gives much story away, but even he looked pretty healthy as if there was no make-up designer on duty that day. Melodrama, yes. Sizzling love and real drama over the lingering castes system and parental cultural fossilization, no.

Ek Dhun Banaras Kee.

I've been looking forward to see this movie. This movie is not just about a man meets a woman en they fall in love. No, Soham (Ashmit Patel) falls in love with Shwetambari (Urmila Matondkar). Sweta is from a higher class in society and Soham is an orphan from the lowest class. The outcome of this relationship is predictable. The outcome is predictable. Sweta's brother finds out Soham's background and tells this to her father (Raj Babbar). He gets angry and doesn't want Sweta to meet Soham anymore. She gets angry to and explains why she loves Soham. Soham is a student of Babba (Naseeruddin Shah) and she believes Soham is more than a man. Then the parents of Sweta agree with a engagement and a wedding. But then the night before the wedding Soham gets a weird feeling. He gets killed that night.

Police tries to find out who the killer is, and tries to get in touch with Babba via Sweta. But Babba seems not to be someone Sweta thinks he is! The way to find the killer seems almost impossible. This movie is almost refreshing. There was a similar line you could pull with the movie Mohabbatein in the relationship between Sharukh and Aishwaria. The songs were beautiful. Ashmit is a very bad actor, so is Urmila. When she dances she makes movements with her head and her mouth I have seen in a lot of her movies before. Only the words 'what the hell is she doing?' come into my mind. Naseeruddin had a very small role to make things up with the other bad performances.

In the beginning you can see Raj Babbar on his death bed. This gives a lot away from the story. That is a pity. Even though it was worth watching.

Virin G.

But otherwise what a wonderful film. Obviously a low budget film with low production values but these were not required in the film. Purely dependent of performances and the beauty of Hindu or Indian spiritualism, a totally spellbinding film.

Naseer ji were exceptionally good, although for him it was probably and easy task as he is so talented. Urmilla again proved that she is not just all beauty. She can act for sure. She proved this in Pinjar for me and again in this film.

Even Ashmit acted very well.

The music was just heavenly. I found myself, at many times, with tears in my eyes. Mainly because of the spiritualist inner feelings that i was having.

Indian cinema need more such films. This film was totally and totally Indian in ever aspect. The only bad thing in the movie was the choppy editing at places but I am sure they had their reasons for it.

On the whole, a wonderful concept of a film!! Loved it! Loved it! Loved it!

At the time of watching this, I wasn't bothering with many films at all. The reason being, it seemed most films were dramatic for the sake of drama, and in the process, they sacrifice the purity of the message. That didn't happen here. The film has a subheading of 'A Mystical Love Story'.. And thats exactly what you get. When I weigh everything up, other comments posted here, my own experience, then I come to this conclusion: I'd say This film achieves what it set out to achieve & The story doesn't falter in its culmination. I felt quite satisfied at the end, and not just tantalized by some over-dramatic cheap thrill with no lasting message.

Good Indian movies are pleasure to watch, since they are extremely well made comparable to American or Italian movies. They always have a message to be taken to the next generation. But in the last five years or so, they are being brainwashed by these non Indian Suvvar rats, who have come illegally from the neiboring country, who have no respect for Indian culture or tradition and these scums were born to scums and they have taken the Hindi movies down the toilet. Their movies have toilet humor and gutter themes made for the sole purpose of making fast buck for these banchods who should go back to the sewer where they came from and stay there. Good producers and directors can't compete with this banchods or stoop down to their level, hence the good movies like "Banaras" are few and far apart. The majority of Indians are ashamed of these maggots, who are on the top because they are promoted by the Suvvar Rats of the Media who are also born to Rats. This is a movie that is a glee to watch. The cast is commendable with a good piece of acting by Urmila As Shwetambari. The story is not contrived but down to earth. This movie has a message of love and respect for the higher being. Ashmita Patel has the serene look needed for the part. Benares is the religious capitol of India that people from all walks of life come to purify their soul.

This movie really captures the city of Banaras and all the spirituality associated with it. The songs are also so uplifting and upbeat. My Kathak dance class is even doing a dance to one of the songs, Om Namah Shivaya. Of all songs, it is the most spiritual, which is why my teacher chose it. But back to the actual movie. The movie as a whole is so enlightening and floods the viewer with positive energy through its religious significance. Also, the movie was very well directed, with its setting, acting, and song choice. It has the power to suck you in whether or not you are the religious, spiritual type. I may be a little biased toward the movie moreso than not having parents from Banaras. However, it is still one of the best Hindi films.

Excellent movie. Immensely thought provoking and "hat ke type" story. Music, direction and photography are superb and acting of lead star cast is stunning. Specially Urmila did wonderful job, she got the suitable role and did it well. Ashmit impressed me. Dimple, Raj Babbar and Nasseruddin had done hundreds of such role so played their part with ease and positive impact. Super natural subject line is always hard to present but direction and script really are praise worthy. Music is very touchy and blended nicely with scenes and situations. Movie is very lucid, though slow, unlike todays funky movies. Story is gripping and dialogues related to spirituality are admirable.

As i was invited by my friend for this movie.I went and watched.Really its excellent as i am also a devotee of Shiva and i felt that lord Shiva has called me to see this movie.A wonderful experience for me.The movie not only gives insight of the true love and passion but the truth of life and self realization.Its amazing and wonderful.It was a good experience while watching the movie.Really i cant forget the movie and scenes.Songs,Locations,Emotions are really worth seeing...Thats why its been rated for Oscar also.I would like to recommend all the youngsters to see this movie....

Kavitha

Has all ingredients of an all-time great movie!

Powerful storyline - Love, Romance, status & clash of social values, joy/sorrow, desire/surrender, success/failure,covetousness, suspense of the who-dun- it, control interference and the fight for freedom, purity/sin, justice retribution/understanding, the dilemma of science (physics) vs metaphysics(spiritual/religious thought), the deep hunger/urge in man for meaning & Verities/"Truth" and ideas of Eternal/Ephemeral existence - in short a cameo of LIFE itself.

"Banaras" even has "action", murder/violence/death which is idiomatically alluded to for each viewer to visualize - or is simply depicted with quiet finality - as in life! I cannot say when I last enjoyed such a totally absorbing masterpiece. I has always wondered if someone would attempt to make a movie that would address all these issues in 2/3 hours. I finally found one that fits the bill!

The portrayal of culture, locale is excellent and authentic. The superb music and lyrics - which run completely true to storyline - mood and message as well as events - both timely and timeless.

Banaras presents even very deep "fantastic" spiritual concepts: such as 1. the expansion/mergence of the human consciousness with super/cosmic consciousness and 2. Love as the bedrock of all existence 3. The guru-disciple relationship which fords life, death and Infinity seamlessly 4. Principles of spiritual crisis and healing 5. The karma - the cause and effect principle (where we sows the result if our actions - and create/destroy our joy/life by our actions), 6. Forgiveness - cessation of "blame" by absolute love/understanding/surrender (despite awareness of the "sinful" actions) 7. Intuitive transmission/reception of thought/ideas in an excellent manner - with seemingly effortless natural ease - which is again as it should be because "Truth is simple".

I saw this once and then had to go back to see it again - because I felt I needed to be a true critic more balanced in my opinion and so must find fault if there is some. I could not fault even the cinematography. The perception of the untouchable - was expressed through the sweeping, the rising of the dust, and the dropping of the broom, all too effectively - the effect was almost viscerally tangible!

The authenticity of portrayal of "supernatural" events with real spiritual experience is also astounding!

A big thank you to the team! Kudos to each performer - for perfect portrayal of each role and to Pankaj and the editors for a very slick presentation.

If Oscars were mine to give - Banaras would surely have had them! May it be the first of many more in its genre - to come from my beloved India!

The way Jayatheertha has brought together a blend of two subjects - love story and mystery of time travel - is beautiful. Showing bananas in such grandeur, makes this film unique.

Zaid as a new comer looks good on screen, has a decent response to a seasoned director jayatheertha's coaching.

Jayatheerta has always tried directing different genre of movies, and stands out for the fact that he makes movies that families can enjoy together.

Songs are catchy and art director has done a great job. We watched the movie with friends and it was fun.

Overall, Very good job by jayatheertha and team!!

Does this movie have some typical bollywood masala scenes? Sure it does. Could certain dialogues of Baba-ji have been better phrased? Possibly. Ashmit Patel's acting is perhaps just OK.

Yet, here is a movie that touches us spiritually and makes us think about human behavior and how we can evolve spiritually. It gives us examples of narrow mindedness and repentance. It reminds us how we like to think we are so rational and yet, true peace of mind can not be obtained merely through intellectual gymnastics.

Urmila's acting is great in my opinion. Raj Babbar and Dimple Kapadia play their roles well too. The movie has got some nice, melodious songs. There are some nice views of Banaras.

The movie is only around 2 hours. How often does one see that in Hindi movies? Highly worth watching.