Banaras

The movies tagline might be a mystical love story...to me it was India's mysticism at its best. Banaras has for so long been the centre of our spirituality and the movie has done its best to capture it. The love story that is actually the director's ploy to get across the essence of Banarash has been kept simple, no undue complications helps the message to come out really strong... the message of Soham, of unity of every atom of the world! At the same time the complications of human emotions are also dealt with...best being Dimple Kapadia, Urmila's screen mother, facing her screen daughter with the one confession that changed the latter's life...the murder of her lover! The manner in which Urmila (Shwetambari) transcends personal grief to attain that spirituality where the self ceases to matter has been well depicted. There is always the fear that the mpvie will go overboard with its spirituality, but the moment comes and goes. Even Naseeruddin's role as God exudes warmth and belief. I guess the message comes out most strongly with the conversion of Akash Khurana, the psychiatrist with lung cancer, from 'confused rationality' to supreme spitituality, depicted most aptly by the parallel frenzies of Swetambari at her piano and the doctor on his mad rush sans his air filter!

The movie expounds the existential theme. There is more meaning in the layers of mysticism surrounding the film. The more one penetrates these layers, the deeper the meaning, the spirituality runs. In deed this is how our Hindu culture is which has been so well potrayed.

It is however unfortunate that after all this the movie might not do well at the box office... nonetheless, for the message it conveys, this movie deserves all respect.