'Benaras' releases on April seven

Mumbai, Mar 15 (UNI) 'Benaras', the Hindi movie releasing next month is an attempt to introduce young Indian audience to the wonders of Varanasi, the city believed to be an epitome of Indian culture and heritage, film's producer and writer L C Singh said.

The story is written by producer L C Singh himself, who grew up in the temple city and studied in the Benaras Hindu University.

Singh firmly believes in remaining rooted to his heritage and wanted a medium to communicate this message to the younger generation.

'Benaras- A Mystic Love Story' has elements of mysticism, spiritualism and existentialism, Pankuj Parashar stated in a release about his latest directorial venture.

Parashar, whose earlier feature films include 'Ab Ayega Maza' (1983), 'Jalwa' (1987) and 'Chalbaaz' (1989), joined hands with Pune-based IT company Nihilent Technologies president and producer CEO L C Singh to make the film which boasts of a star cast like Urmila Matondkar, Ashmit Patel, Raj Babbar, Dimple Kapadia, Naseeruddin Shah and Akash Khurana.

Shot on locations in Varanasi in a span of 45 days (with two days shooting in Mauritius), the film captures the flavour of this holy city without the didacticism of a documentary film. It retains the entertaining elements of a commercial film, yet it operates at various levels- from science to mysticism.

''It is the story of a Physics scholar (Urmila Matondkar) who falls in love with a music lover (Ashmit Patel). It interprets the concept of existentialism with the help of a love story. It kind of connects quantum of physics to what the Vedas say,'' Mr Parashar stated.

The music has been composed by Himesh Reshammiya. Five contemporary songs in the film have strong classical base with the Banaras gharana touch, while lyrics have been written by Sameer, who also hails from Benaras.

Singh says the message they have tried to convey is that ''you build your own path. What kind of a world you create is up to you.

Compassion is really what we've tried to propagate through the film,'' he added.

The film's other credits include cinematography by Nirav Shah, art by Nitish Roy, screenplay by L C Singh and Javed Siddiqui, dialogue by Javed Siddiqui and choreography by Saroj Khan, the release stated.

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