Banaras

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!

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.

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.

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.