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While Banaras was largely trashed by the major national dailies in India, it continues to receive rave reviews abroad. Most of the websites worldwide who carry their reader's reviews can't stop talking the profoundness of the movie. Here are some examples.

NY Times readers review *****

BBC website Site review *** User review ****

Sulekha.com reader's review *****

Mouthshut.com reader's review ****

Smashits.com reader's review ****

Here is a recent review of the film in Indus Age, Sydney.

BANÂRAS - A Mystic Love Story

by Ashwini, Sydney

Every once in a while a breath of fresh air blows through the portals of Bollywood: An inspired producer like LC Singh emerges who has visions beyond the titillating, violence packed, senseless concoctions that are constantly being churned out to feed the masses and reap in the profits.

Banaras - A Mystic Love Story is one such inspiration.

Is BANARAS a documentary? Is it an art film? Is it a regular commercial film? Questions run rife in the minds of the cinemagoers who know not what to expect in a film titled BANARAS. Pankuj Parasher (the Director) has beautifully created an offering which spans several genres.

Yes - BANARAS is an art film. The heavy infusion of philosophy and spiritualism marks BANARAS apart from regular love stories. The film is challenging to viewers who are accustomed to an established pattern of story telling. The film caters to a small segment of the population (the educated urbanite who can rise above the travails of everyday life and look beyond and within oneself).

Yes - BANARAS is a commercial film. The love story is told differently and yet the film has its full quota of music, dance, romance, suspense, emotions and violence - even though the latter is only in the minds and words of the characters and not depicted with blood and gore. The toe - tapping Holi number will definitely be included in all future Holi celebrations!

Yes - BANARAS is a documentary - the film that captures the aura of the holiest of Indian cities with such reverence and takes you into the habitats of Tulsidas, Kabir and Buddha and shows the River Ganges in its myriad moods can rival any dedicated documentary on the city.

With the help of seasoned actors like Urmila Matondkar, Naseeruddin Shah, Raj Babbar, Dimple Kapadia and Akash Khurana, the Director unfolds the love story of Shwetambari (Urmila) a modern day science student and Soham (played by Ashmit Patel) a music teacher and a person with a mystic purpose to existence. Philosophy is very heavily dished out in the first half and the story meanders at a slow pace which may faze many a non-believer or those who prefer action on screen. But for those who appreciate this (I am one of them), those who are treading new realms and watch in awe and those who plain endure it, the second half has suspense packed twists and turns which grip your attention and take you to a different plane altogether.

The message of faith, spirituality, compassion and forgiveness which the film tries to put across has a Universal audience - there is no race, religion or language barrier and everyone in the world can identify with what is being said.

Urmila has given an awesome performance while Ashmit who was chosen for his 'innocent' looks, looks just that - innocent and quite vague in his expression. Wonder if this is what the Director wanted of him? Naseeruddin Shah, Raj Babbar and Dimple Kapadia live up to our expectations but it is the lesser known stars who in my opinion have given remarkable performances.

Akash Khurana as the Psychiatrist from Boston suffering from lung cancer with his racking cough, and pain and suffering in his eyes was my favourite. Arif Zakaria as Inspector Satyapal has a miniscule role but emotes very well in the two crucial scenes of breaking 'the' news to Shwetambari and in the awkward confrontation with the accusing heroine.

Rajeev Mishra as the designated villain without as much as laying a hand on another, makes the audience fearful through the portrayal of the sheer intensity of his anger and sense of revenge.

A review of the film cannot be written without mention of the magic of the photography by Neerav Shah. He of course is very fortunate to have had the Ganges as a backdrop to almost 75 percent of the scenes - the mesmerizing orange hued water at dawn, the peaceful greens and blues during the day and the mysterious awe inspiring darkness at night catching the reflection of the city's lights along the Ghats.

The highly hummable songs set to the music of Himesh Reshammiya along classical lines have an enduring allure - my six year old is the best proof of the success of the music as he repeatedly asks to listen to 'Om Nama Shivayya' as also my 16 year old (who is in the 'I listen only to pop music' stage!) who has BANARAS songs on his MP3 player!

BANARAS is the fore-runner of a newly created genre in Indian cinema -

Art for the masses!

My rating: ****

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