''Banaras'' is a 2009 Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

-language

masala film Masala films of Indian cinema mix multiple genres into one work. Masala films emerged in the 1970s and are still created as of the 2020s. Typically these films freely mix action, comedy, romance, and drama or melodrama. They also tend to be ...

directed by Nemom Pushparaj, starring

Vineeth Vineeth Radhakrishnan (born 23 August 1969) is an Indian actor, classical dancer, voice artist and choreographer who primarily works in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu language films. He has also starred in a few Kannada and Bollywood films. He h ...

Kavya Madhavan Kavya Madhavan (born 19 September 1984) is a former Indian actress, who appeared predominantly in Malayalam films. She made her debut in 1991 as a child artist in '' Pookkalam Varavayi''. Her debut role as a lead actress was in Lal Jose's '' ...

and

Navya Nair Navya Nair is an Indian actress who has appeared predominantly in Malayalam films, along with others in Kannada and Tamil. She is the recipient of several awards. Personal life Nair married Santhosh Menon in 2010, and the couple have a son. ...

in lead roles. Sanjay Padiyoor was the production controller.

Plot

Hari (

), a village boy and a student is the central character of the movie. He is in love with Devu (

). He wants to go to

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

to do his higher studies in

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...

. He leaves behind his love and goes for his studies. There, he meets another fellow student Amritha (

). Her stepfather wants to marry her off to a street goon and so she asks Hari to take her to a distant place on the bike. During the trip, they take shelter in a tent organized by an old man. The old man gives them

bhang Bhang (IAST: ''Bhāṅg'') is an edible preparation made from the leaves of the cannabis plant originating from the Indian subcontinent. It has been used in food and drink as early as 1000 BC in ancient India. Bhang is traditionally distribu ...

to drink and both of them drinks it without knowing the consequences. They both get intoxicated and unknowingly ends up having unprotected

sex Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, oft ...

multiple times during the night. The next day they both are spotted by the goons engaged by her stepfather who injure Hari badly and take Amritha with them. After a few months, Hari recovers and returns to his hometown. He sells off his property and confesses to Devu that he cannot accept and explains to her what happened. In desperation, Devu commits suicide. Hari goes back to Varanasi and lives a sober life. After a long time, Amritha, who was under the impression that Hari is dead, finds out about him and comes back to see him. She had given birth to Hari's son and he is a big boy now. The couple unite.

Cast

as Hari *

as Amritha *

as Devu * Suresh Krishna as Kishan Chand *

Harisree Ashokan Harisree Ashokan is an Indian actor and director who is known for his comedy roles in Malayalam films. Ashokan has acted in more than 200 Malayalam films. He started his career as a mimicry artist in the troupe Harisree and then worked in Kalab ...

as Paropakaram Paul *

Suraj Venjaramoodu Suraj Vasudevan (born 30 June 1976), professionally credited as Suraj Venjaramoodu, is an Indian actor, comedian, impressionist, and television presenter, who appears in Malayalam films, television and stage plays. He has acted in more than 2 ...

as Swami Bhogananda Chathi * Devan as Balakrishnan *

Jagathy Sreekumar Sreekumar P. K. (born 5 January 1951), better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar or simply Jagathy, is an Indian actor, director and playback singer, who has appeared in over 1500 Malayalam films in a career spanning almost four decad ...

Nedumudi Venu Kesavan Venugopal (22 May 1948 – 11 October 2021), better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in Ma ...

as M.K. Nair *

Urmila Unni Urmila Unni is an Indian classical dancer and actress who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Her daughter Utthara Unni is also an actress. Personal life Unni was born on June 14th, 1962 into a royal family as the daughter of K. C. Anuja ...

Anoop Chandran Anoop Chandran is an Indian actor and comedian who appears in Malayalam films. He was a contestant in the reality show '' Bigg Boss Malayalam Season 1'' in 2018. Career Mostly appeared in comic roles, he is best known for his roles in ''Classm ...

as Chandran *

Vijay Menon Vijay Menon is an Indian actor, editor, director and dubbing artist in Malayalam cinema. He has acted in more than 100 films in South Indian languages. He mainly handles in character roles and supporting roles. He has won Kerala State Film Awa ...

as Professor Ananthakrishnan * Indulekha as Hari's mother

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack features seven songs composed by

M. Jayachandran Madhusoodanan Jayachandran is an Indian composer, singer, and musician. He has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director for a record number of nine times. In 2005, he also won the state award for best male singer. In 2015, he wo ...

and lyrics penned by

Gireesh Puthenchery Girish Puthenchery (1961–2010) was a noted Malayalam Lyricist, Poet, Scriptwriter and Screenwriter. He was always referred to as the aristocratic lyricist of Malayalam who had a distinctive writing style of his own. He also served as the direc ...

, except where noted. The soundtrack was noted especially for the vocals of

Shreya Ghoshal Shreya Ghoshal (born 12 March 1984) is an Indian singer and television personality. One of the highest-paid and most well-established playback singers of Indian cinema, she has received four National Film Awards, four Kerala State Film Awar ...

in two songs. She won the

Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer The Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer is an honour, established in 1969, and presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India for best female and male playback singer in Malayalam cinema. The first recipients of the award were P. ...

for the track "Chanthu Thottille", first ever by a North Indian singer. ; Track listing

Reception

Unni R Nair from

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

wrote "Despite all these, there are things that go against the film - it doesn't offer anything spectacular and hence may not attract you to the theatres. And since it is released along with the bigger movies, it may not fare too well at the box-office." Paresh C Palicha from

Rediff.com Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

wrote" Banaras could have been a worthwhile experience if it was treated with the seriousness it deserved." Sify.com wrote" The film is at best, is a wasted opportunity. The careless approach and lack of passion ruin its chances, though there are some nice aspects like the music, costumes and a talented cast."

Awards

* Kerala State Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer -

for ''Chanthu Thottille'' *

Asianet Film Awards The Asianet Film Awards is an award ceremony for films presented annually by Asianet, a Malayalam-language television network from the south-Indian state of Kerala. Asianet says that awards ceremony has been instituted to honour both artis ...

- Best Actress for ''

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1638265 2009 films 2000s Malayalam-language films 2009 romantic drama films Indian romantic drama films 2000s masala films