Perhaps the most critically acclaimed movie to be set in Varanasi was never shot in the city. Deepa Mehta’s Water wonderfully narrated the story of the city’s widows but could never be shot due to fierce protests by the locals.
Eventually Water would be shot in Sri Lanka but with its supreme storytelling and wonderful camerawork (Giles Nuttgens) did a darned good job of capturing the spirit of the city.
While Masaan showed the youth succumbing to the Varanasi’s rigid values, in Ghatak Sunny Deol’s character derived his strength from the very same value systems. While only a part of the film was shot (and indeed set) in Varansi, Sunny Deol’s shots against the ghats and the city’s famous wrestlers are some of the most memorable ones in the movie.
And as the young Deol leaves the town for the big city, the morals of the holy city work as his moral compass in the bad big city world.
Starring Shweta Tripathi, Richa Chadda and Vicky Kaushal, Masaan is yet another film that is not just set in Varanasi but also shot here. Far starker than Raanjhanaa, Masaan is a heartbreaking story of the young attempting to break away from the shackles of the rigid value systems of the ancient town.
The Sonam Kapoor and Dhanush-starrer does a rather neat job of not just capturing the sights and sounds of Varanasi, it also explores the more sensitive issue of religious divide in the city.
The founder of a 15 hundred crore empire, decided to walk away into oblivion, and live instead of existing. Varanasi gave meaning to his life and awakening to his soul. This is a story of an unending journey beyond the realms of life and death.
This film shows the Varanasi’s aroma of life, food and tradition, which any can fall deep into love and forget their sorrows as life ends to another life.
Varanasi is one of the oldest inhabited cities on earth. The American author Mark Twain famously said this about the city (also known as Benaras): “Benaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together!” Indeed there are few things that come close to the Varanasi experience. The city that seems older than time itself has been immortalized not just in literature but also in movies.
The city has been continuously focused among the Film Directors because of rich culture, tradition and way of life and its openness towards the Death. There are several films shot in Varanasi part as part but the below 5 films are the best succeeded to showcase best definition of Varanasi what is.
