Banaras Malayalam Movie
To draw parallels between the tranquil Ganges and the 'musical pilgrimage of love' set on its banks is literally impossible. Benares, the film, has none of the profundity, depth or vigor of the mystic river. Instead, it rages on like an unruly current on a real rainy day, all muddy, indistinct and thoroughly off-course.
Hari (Vineeth) seems like an activist who stages street plays and who gains an admission to the Benares Hindu University to do his PhD on North Indian Folk Arts. Traveling away is tough for the youngster, as his childhood sweetheart Devu (Navya Nair) finds the parting unbearable. But travel, he does, and at Varanasi he turns out to be a savior to Amritha (Kavya Madhavan), liberating her from the evil clutches of her wicked uncle.
What confounds me is the rationale behind filming this flick at Benares. It would have made nil difference if it were shot at Koothattukulam. Precisely because the holy city has no decisive role to play in this melodrama. It merely flaunts its name and limply stands like a scarecrow left aside on a field after harvest.
It needs to be acknowledged that Benares has been radiantly captured on screen. The ambience of sanctity and piety is retained without fail; the scent of incense and the stench of rotting corpses proficiently envisaged through splendid images that form a delightful montage.
What the film lacks then, is a solid and perhaps singular storyline. Without doubt it's merely a story about being in love with someone, and a moment of disloyalty that creeps in, wrecking it all. And the tragedy that ensues, and more and more of it, unless it all becomes unbearable.
Continual implausibility, tacky conversation, and the static traits of its almost dead leads scheme together to doom this real cold, supposedly magical romance. It's absolutely distressing, since the movie tries hard with all its might to be an intense, expressive relationship drama, and yet it fails at each and every turn thanks to the zilch chemistry between its actors and the total lack of a logical plot.
Then there's the aching question as to who turns out be better in a film that boasts of twin heroines. As much as my loyalties lie with Kavya, I would toss my coin in favor of Navya this time around. She's the underdog here, and yet is extraordinarily impressive, especially towards those closing moments, when she finishes off her exploit with absolute grace.
I wish we could get to hear more of Shreya Ghosal in our language. Unlike Udit Narayan who literally croaks Malayalam painfully out, Shreya is an aural delight in 'Priyanoraal' and her diction nothing short of perfect. Clearly a song that calls for repeated hearing and one of Jayachandran's best compositions, this is a lilting melody on which you could perhaps invest your movie ticket on.
This is a gloomy production that could very well drain your energy. The end result, which attempts style and refinement, is too tedious and tiresome to work either rationally or emotionally.
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