Banaras #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #filmmoviedocumentaryreviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #filmmoviedocumentaryreviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #Banaras (Kannada - also releasing in dubbed Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu versions) Cast: #ZaidKhan #SonalMonteiro #SujayShastry #AchyuthKumar #BhargavPolara #Devaraj #BarkatAli Director/Writer/Choreography: #Jayathirtha. Runtime: 140 mins Rating: * * Producer: #TilakrajBallal #NKProduction Cinematography: #AdvaithaGurumurthy. Editor: #KMPrakash #1HMedia #AltairMedia

A film that plays around with time must have a solid foundation to make that challenging concept believable but this one doesn’t. The overly long runtime makes the ensuing melee of multiple plots heading in different directions (without any coherence or cohesion), rather off-putting. There’s also only so much scientific mumbo-jumbo that an audience can suffer through. This one takes the cake! Trying to fit in a ‘Run Lola Run’ construct into a prank-powered romance set in the city of piety, Banaras, Director Jayatirtha makes a show of it but it’s more of a showreel for his technical skills and less of a narrative with a logical flow and visual lucidity. The editing could have been sharper, the cinematography less interested in showcasing Banaras as a religious tourism destination, and the scripting could have been less hallucinatory. A couple of songs have great melodies but the dubbed lyrics don’t fit in well. Zaid Khan does his best to shore up this film with his supple, earnest performance but it’s all to no avail. Those brave enough to watch this film might need some opioid help to get through it!