Article Updated 09 April, 2006 03:19:55 AM IST   Banaras - A Mystic Love Story By Prema K. ©2006 Bollyvista.com   In a nutshell the film, the film is a love story interlaced with spiritualism. It's a love story between a high caste girl, Shwetambhari (Urmila Matondkar), and a low caste guy, Soham (Ashmit Patel). The story even goes to the next level. When the guy is mysteriously murdered, his fiancé, Shwetambari becomes a spiritual person. So now we don't need to tell you that it's a depressing kind of film. Although one tried hard to watch the film knowing what to expect, we have to say that it was below our expectations. At the end of it all, we walked out of the cinema hall with a desperate yearning for an entertainer. But to give credit to the maker and the main actors, they've done a superb job. The story- Shwetambari (Urmila Matondkar) is the daughter of rich Brahmin parents, (Dimple Kapadia and Raj Babbar). She studies Physics at the Benaras Hindu university. Soham (Ashmit Patel) is a low caste music teacher at the University. We forgot to mention Babaji (Naseeruddin Shah), who's been dead for years but assumes a human form at times to help people in need. He is hovering around Soham most of the times as his guardian angel. Shwetambari and Soham fall in love and there's mayhem. At first, Shweta's parents disapprove of the match, but when truth dawns upon them that Soham is a Hindu (he's only been adopted by a sweeper woman), they decide to get the lovers engaged. The marriage date is fixed. But unfortunately Soham is murdered on the day of his marriage. Shweta is shattered. She becomes an introvert. There's a passage of time. Shwetambari has severed ties with her parents and shifted base to Mauritius. She is now addressed as Ma. One day she gets a call from Benares informing her that her father is dying. She's in a dilemma; to meet her father before he breathes his last or to ignore the call. Finally she decides to go to Benares. The film picks up from this point and is the most emotional part. Old memories come back to her and her mother confesses her hand in killing Soham. She's not shocked as she's already aware of it. Performances- Urmila has already proved her mettle as an actress in films before this. She only consolidates her position in the bracket of fine actors with this film. Raj Babbar and Dimple Kapadia are good. The latter is excellent in the climax when she confesses to Urmila about killing Soham. There wasn't anything extraordinary for Naseeruddin Shah to do. But he does have that Godly aura about him in the film. Arif Zakaria as the cop is good. Ashmit Patel is okay. Underplaying could sometimes be mistaken as being dumb. This is what he comes across as. The rest are competent. The film is a visual treat. Banaras has been brilliantly captured on film. Hats off to the cinematographer. The director also deserves a pat on the back for his sensitive handling of the subject. But on the whole, the film may appeal to the audience in the smaller centers but may not last beyond the weekend in the metros. ** (Two stars) *poor; **average; ***good; ****very good; *****excellent   close   Print this Article http://www.bollyvista.com   http://www.bollyvista.com/article/a/29/6461