Pankuj Parashar's, 'Banaras - A Mystic Love Story' explores several themes in contemporary Hindu life, knit together into an entertaining plot.

The story is of two young Hindus Shwetambhari (Urmilla Matondkar) and Soham (Ashmit Patel), both born in Varanasi (Banaras), the holy city of Hindus. Shwetambhari is the only daughter of rich Brahmin parents (Dimple Kapadia and Raj Babbar) and studies physics at the local university. She is young, bright and admired by all.

Soham on the other hand was an abandoned child who was taken in by a sweeper woman who affectionately brought him up as her own. Despite facing caste prejudice in his early years he grows up to be an accomplished mystic under the tutelage of a teacher named Babaji (Naseeruddin Shah), and is also a talented musician. This lands him a job as Professor of Music at the Banaras Hindu University.

Shwetambhari was quickly enamoured of Soham's music and asks him to tutor her, which he agrees to do. They subsequently fall in love. When news of this comes out it raises eyebrows in certain casteist sections of society. Initially Swetambhari's parents are very opposed to a marriage, but eventually for the sake of their daughter's happiness and because he is after all a Hindu, they give their blessings for them to marry. However on the day before the wedding a huge tragedy strikes - Soham is mysteriously murdered. Shwetambhari is devastated and leaves Banaras for good.

Shwetambhari is driven to the point of insanity but manages to find solace in spirituality. Seventeen years later, Shwetambhari, now a world teacher in philosophy and religion, is confronted with a final choice - whether to return to Varanasi to meet her dying father or to continue to deny all attachments. When she returns to Varanasi, the sleeping demons and the dark secrets lying underneath erupt like a dormant volcano.

An adventurous film in many ways, 'Banaras - a Mystic Love Story' is primarily based on two antagonistic aspects of Hindu life. On one hand there is the beauty of the spiritual traditions, powerfully brought out in this film. On the other hand there is the cruel aspect of caste discrimination. The film shows that the latter is a negation or contradiction of the entire philosophy on which Hinduism spirituality is based. A person would actually learn a fair bit of Hindu philosophy watching 'Banaras - a Mystic Love Story', through the conversations between Soham and Babaji.

The story pulls off remarkably well. The spiritual elements intermixed with the love story and tragedy could easily have wound up looking cheesy or cliché. But in this movie the elements fuse well and are tackled maturely and sensitively. On top of all this, the film is a visual feast - being the first film in which we get such astounding footage of Varanasi, the foremost holy city of Hindus. On the whole, definitely one to watch.

CLICK HERE TO COMMENT / DISCUSS