There goes a saying that the first film of a first time director is made up of mistakes that are to be rectified in the second film. But journalist turned first time director Bhawna Talwar has broken the jinx as the film shines like a proverbial star among the regular Bollywood potboilers. Since the film has already been premiered in Cannes Film Festival, this raised the expectation and curiosity quotient and it emerged a winner on both the counts.
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Now for the plot. Set in Banaras the film revolves around the life of pundit Ram Narayan (Pankaj Kapur), head priest of Shiva temple, whose day starts with bath in holy Ganga and then is devoted in fulfilling his temple duties and teaching. His wife ( played ably by Supriya Pathak Kapur ) and daughter follow his daily routine. Tranquility of their seemingly normal life is disturbed when during a communal carnage a lady hands over her infant son to pundit’s daughter, with promise to take the infant back but she disappears and remains untraceable. Then the family on wife’s insistence adopts the child instead to sending him to an orphanage and began to raise him as a devout Hindu. In four years Kaarthik wins everyone’s’ heart including that of pundit who earlier had reservations on keeping him without knowing his caste and religion.
Just when everything was okay, child’s Muslim mother resurfaces to claim the boy and now it is revealed that their Kaaarthik is actually Mustafa. Pundit Ram Narayan then undergoes sever penance to purify his body, soul, home and temple for raising non–believer. He hurriedly returns the child. If you think that the film is over, you are wrong. The real story of finding the true meaning of the religion – Dharm, begins here.
In the midst of all this is the sub plot of the Banaras being burnt as part of a communal carnage. All these clashes make Pundit Ram Narayan realise the true nuisance of Dharma – that of oneness and equality of people irrespective of religion or caste.
The ghats of Banaras are beautifully shot. Screenplay is tight and continues to hold the viewer’s interest till the very end. Raga based Music is apt to the theme of the film. There are in total 20 songs – 4 instrumental, 2 chorus and rest are ably sung by Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghosal. Sonu has done justice to the title track “Dharm” and his rendition of “Bhoor bhayye” linger in listener’s ears even after the song has finished. However the best of the lot is “Piya bole” that captures the pain and devotion of a maiden to her beloved. It is rendered separately by both Sonu and Shreya and is a musical treat.
The only hitch in the otherwise good film is the character of Hrishita Bhatt who as daughter of an ex-prince ,is not fully defined.
Now for the verdict on the film. Superb acting and dialogues, good direction yet it’s a niche film for classes that wont get mass audience. It has the potential to do well in multiplex. The director has done a great thing by bringing the husband wife duo of Pankaj and Supriya Kapur together on big screen after 18 years and their chemistry shows. It must be on the must watch list of every sensible Indian. Watch the film, as it needs to be watched.
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