Banarsi Babu

I leave tomorrow for a couple of weeks; the highlight of my trip will undoubtedly be my four or five days in Varanasi (pictures to follow, of course), a city I have never been to, and one which promises a "singular" urban experience, even in an era when ever more places have come to resemble places one already knows...

Recent Bollywood films that have featured Varanasi: Bas Itna Sa Khwab Hai, Bunty aur Babli (I don't think the relevant scene made it into the final cut, but you can watch it among the deleted scenes in the DVD; the only trace in the film is a shot of the lead pair fleeing in saffron robes, presumably pursued by those they have scammed), Laaga Chunari Mein Daagh, and the turgid Benares. The last-named was the most Varanasi-centric of the lot, but its city was also the Kashi of postcards, all Ganges ghats and not much else. Goldie Behl's directorial debut, Bas Itna Sa Khwab Hai, was also quite ghat-centric, but in a self-consciously "down home" way: the young Abhishek Bachchan goes for his morning run along the banks of the river, Behl no doubt conscious of Abhishek's claim to the chora Ganga kinaare waala legacy, returning home to dream of making it in bigger, more worldly cities. Pradeep Sarkar's vision partakes of both of these visions of the city in Laaga Chunari Mein Daagh . His Varanasi focused more on what the city might be like than with Benaras' concern with the sweep of the Ganges and the space it opens up -- a dominant and striking motif in Pankaj Parashar's otherise plodding film. Sarkar's attention to the city's genteel mansions that have seen better days, is especially noteworthy. Undoubtedly his is a Yashraj-ized cityscape, populated by beaming, helpful shopkeepers (but, and this is an un-Yashraj touch, also with scheming relatives and a desperate longing for the brigh lights of Mumbai), but more vivid, more plausible than the city of Benares.

UPDATE: abhishekr and abcd tell me that more of Bunty aur Babli was shot in Varanasi than I had believed.