Banaras

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Banaras' classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Banaras completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 6 April 2006.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Banaras contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Banaras is a love story between star crossed lovers, high-caste Shwetamberi, (Urmilla Matondker) and low-caste Soham (Ashmit Patel). Soham, abandoned as a baby, is brought up by a street sweeper and due to the uncertainty of his birth is delegated as low caste. He is helped as a boy and young man by a spiritual guide, Babaji (Naseeruddin Shah), who had in fact died two hundred years ago, but comes back to life to guide Soham. Soham grows into a very handsome, devout young man and when he meets the beautiful Shwetamberi, the daughter of wealthy Brahmin parents, Gayatri (Dimple Kapadia) and Mahandranath (Raj Babbar), he is instantly attracted to her. Shwetamberi is an only child, and very protected by her parents.

Soham is a talented musician and applies for a job as music teacher at the College Shwetamberi attends. At first he is hopeful of being appointed, but his low status means that he wouldn’t have been given the position. Shwetamberi persuades her father to use his influence to appoint Soham. The two young people fall in love but their relationship is doomed as Gayatri is determined her daughter won’t marry a low caste man.

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Spiritualism, star crossed lovers.

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including:

• A car accident is shown with a girl lying in a pool of blood
  
• A child is shown being caned on the hand
  
• Soham is shown dead, lying on the ground

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of eight, including the following:

• Shwetamberi becomes very distressed and emotional when Soham is killed.
  
• Mahandranath gets sick and dies
  
• Gayatri becomes very emotional and remorseful of her actions and tries to drown herself in the Ganges.
  
• Soham appears alive after he has apparently been killed.

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Children aged eight to thirteen could be scared or disturbed by the above mentioned violent and scary scenes.

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Most children in this age group would probably not be disturbed by this movie, depending on parents’ assessment of the content.

Sexual references

None.

Nudity and sexual activity

None.

Use of substances

None.

Coarse language

One use of the word ‘bloody’.

The movie's message

Banaras is a Bollywood movie, complete with melodrama, singing, dancing, colour, splendour and mysticism. The main messages from this movie are that people ‘reap what they sow’, that is a ‘bad’ deed will result in guilt and remorse whereas a ‘good’ deed is ultimately rewarded.

Values parents may wish to encourage include forgiveness and tolerance.

This movie could give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the issues of segregation by caste, and the consequences of using violence as a way to solve conflict.