Banaras Review: An average love story that is entertaining in bits and pieces

Hyderabad: Director Jayatheertha, who scored success with 'Bell Bottom', is back with his film 'Banaras'. The film also marks the debut of another politician's son, Zaid Khan. 'Banaras' hit the screens on 6 November in multiple languages. Here is our review.

The plot revolves around Siddarth (Zaid Khan) who challenges his friends that he will make Dhani (Sonal Monteiro) fall in love with him. To make that possible, Siddarth approaches Dhani. But the twist in the tale occurs when Dhani believes Siddarth and lands into serious trouble. What happens next forms the crux of the movie.

Debut actor Zaid Khan is impressive in his role and can act with ease. He emoted quite well in crucial scenes and makes us feel it is not his first movie. Also, the entire story runs on his character and he pulls it off. Surely, he can make it big in the coming days. Sonal Monteiro looks pretty and her acting is decent. Others like Sujay Shastry, Achyuth Kumar, and Devaraj were good in their respective roles.

The director has done a below-average job with the film. The screenplay lost its glory. Also, more effort should have been put into the writing. BGM and music are average. The cinematography is top-notch and also the production values. The majestic locations of Banaras are captured neatly.

The performance of the lead pair is good. The film starts quite well and creates interest. The first half hour is handled with gripping elements and raises curiosity as to what will unfold in the following sequences. Also, the interval block is appealing. There are exciting moments here and there in the second half.

Except for the above-mentioned points, everything goes downhill in the film. The main point that raised curiosity goes in vain just an hour into the film. The screenplay is flat and the love track feels dragged. After the initial few minutes, the first half has nothing till the interval block. Unfortunately, the exciting moments in the second half had no proper conclusion. The director tried his hand at too many genres, and thus the film feels somewhere in between all of these.

On the whole, 'Banaras' is an average love flick that has engaging moments here and there. Zaid Khan's performance and initial few minutes are let down by a lot of issues in the screenplay and direction. You can give the film a miss.