A Kannada film, Banaras starring Zaid Khan and Sonal Monteiro as the lead pair had a theatrical release today. Let’s see how it fares.

Story: Prominently, the film revolves around the love story between Sidharth Simha( Zaid Khan) and Dhani ( Sonal Monteiro). Set in Banaras backdrop, how time loop concept plays a key role in Sidharth’s story? Is there anyone behind the twists and turns in his life? Despite multiple problems, how Sidharth able to win Dhani’s love? To know that, you have to catch the film in the cinemas near you.

Performances: As a pair Zaid Khan and Sonal Monteiro are adorable together on the screen. The chemistry between them makes the entire first half run on a decent note.

Zaid Khan is confident on screen. His natural acting with so much ease even though the film is his debut adds weightage to the proceedings. Heroine Sonal Monteiro amazing with her screen presence. Her girl-next-door looks and impressive facial expressions are a major plus for the film.

Padding artists like Achyuth Kumar, Sujay Shastry, and Sapna Raj are apt in their given key roles. Other artists who played important characters are fine with their performance.

Technicalities: Kantara fame B. Ajaneesh Loknath’s music is good. While all his songs add a fresh vibe to the film, the background score for all key scenes in the second half is effective.

The photography work by Advaitha Gurumurthy is outstanding as he captured the entire Kashi aka Banaras on a delightful note. Editing work by K. M. Prakash is okay but would have chopped close to ten minutes in the second half for a better viewing experience.

The production design work is good and so is the case with the production values for this limited-budget movie.

Analysis: Director Jayatheertha’s on-paper idea of interconnecting time travel cum travel loop concept in the love story is good. He even executed a few establishment scenes on the concept nicely but later struggles to main maintain the momentum in the second half.

After revealing a suspense factor during the interval, the audience’ expect even more engaging scenes related to the time loop in the second half but the director literally cheats by bringing some unconvincing scientific experimental theory towards the climax. To summerize, Banaras is a sci-fi love drama that has a passable first half but the unengaging screenplay in the latter half makes the film a disappointing watch.

Verdict: Time loop backfires!

Rating: 2/5