Divya Delhi: A cineaste would be remiss to miss this film on religion's actual significance. How poor one would be to miss this incisive masterwork without a standing ovation! First-time director Bhavna Talwar creates a heart map in bright, vibrant, but soft strokes. Varanasi, the city of sacred dreams and unholy nightmares, and the clash between old-world ideals and new-world connivances have rarely been so beautifully depicted. Pundit Chaturvedi (Pankaj Kapur), a potbellied, bare-torsoed emblem of piety, could have become a satire in weaker hands. In the first half-hour of this tightly wound tribute to the smell of incense on the seething ghats, the filmmaker qualifies Chaturvedi's ritualistic world with the priest's dormant, tolerant humanism. Read Criminal Justice S4E5-8. Date Released: When Pankaj's Series Episodes Will Air. In vibrant colors, the dawn scenes of the unruffled priest striding briskly through Varanasi's gallis with huffing disciples as he's accosted by a sneering, conniving opponent (Daya Shankar Pandey) show the predominance of ritualistic religion in a city with many subtexts. When a baby is abandoned at the priest's house, religious compulsion and individual conscience clash, leading to one of the most stirring and radical denouements of religious bigotry and communal prejudice since Man invented malevolence and cinema. Vibha Singh's compelling storyline and austere editing style propel the story ahead despite the plot's theatrical excesses.