Insite India and Sanjay Surana’s Kaashi (UA) is the story of a young man who burns dead bodies for a living.
Kaashi (Sharman Joshi) lives in Varanasi and burns dead bodies to make a living. This is his family profession. He lives with his father (Kamalakant Mishra), mother (Anita Sehgal) and younger sister, Ganga (Priyanka Singh). He meets Devina (Aishwarya Devan), a journalist, who has come to Varanasi.
Devina is introduced to Kaashi’s family as she wants to write about him. Devina and Kaashi soon fall in love with one another.
One day, Ganga doesn’t return from college till night. A worried Kaashi and Devina launch a search for Ganga but draw a blank. Then Devina introduces Shruti (Mugdha Meharia) to Kaashi. Shruti, a friend of Ganga, tells Kaashi that his sister was in a relationship with Abhimanyu Pandey (Mehul Surana), son of influential politician Balwant Pandey (Govind Namdeo). Shruti also tells Kaashi that Ganga had been very disturbed of late because she was pregnant with Abhimanyu’s child.
Convinced that Abhimanyu must be the reason for Ganga’s disappearance, Kaashi swears revenge against Abhimanyu. In a heat of moment, he ends up killing Abhimanyu. But he pleads innocent in court after his arrest for the murder of Abhimanyu. Before Kaashi is arrested, he learns that Ganga is dead. He performs the last rites of Ganga before being arrested by the police.
What happens thereafter? Is Ganga really dead? Who killed her? Why does Kaashi plead innocent in court?
There is another track revealed in court. This new track leaves many speechless. What is that track?
Manish Kishore has penned a story that’s not too convincing. The first half moves at a slow pace and ends up testing the viewers’ patience. The suspense angle is interesting but if it still doesn’t have the desired impact, it is for two reasons: firstly, it comes too late, and secondly, the revelation of the suspense makes the drama appear too far-fetched.
Manish Kishore’s screenplay fails to involve the audience whose engagement level is, therefore, minimal. If the love story of Kaashi and Devina is not heart-warming, the emotional quotient is zero. Comedy is conspicuous by its absence. In other words, there is hardly anything to sustain the viewers’ interest in the unfolding drama. Manish Kishore’s dialogues, with additional dialogues by Madhukar Verma and V.P. Singh, are routine.
Sharman Joshi does a fine job as Kaashi, but it’s a pity to see him fritter away his talent on an insipid enterprise like this one. Aishwarya Devan is average as Devina. Her dialogue delivery leaves something to be desired. Priyanka Singh is alright as Ganga. Govind Namdeo lends fair support as politician Balwant Pandey. As Abhimanyu Pandey, Mehul Surana is quite good. Manoj Joshi has his moments as Kaashi’s lawyer, Sinha. Akhilendra Mishra is alright as Balwant Pandey’s lawyer, Mishra. Manoj Pahwa makes his presence felt, as the judge, with a decent performance. Mugdha Meharia is alright as Shruti. Paritosh Tripathi is lovely as Rangeela. Kranti Prakash Jha is fair as Babina. Kamalakant Mishra (as Kaashi’s father) and Anita Sehgal (as Kaashi’s mother) lend dull support. Amit Shukla is good as the psychiatrist. Pushkar Tiwari (as Munna), master Saksham (as child Kaashi), Joginder Tiwari (as Kaashi’s friend, Chunnu), Shahnawaz Khan (as Kaashi’s friend, Murari), Abhimanyu Pandey (as Pappu), Gaurav Chauhan (as Baila), Gauri Shankar (as police inspector Ghanshyam Yadav), V.P. Singh (as Chumman Chacha), Madhu Bharti (as the college dean), Ram Sujan (as the watchman of Balwant Pandey), Vikram (as the hotel manager), Sujit Roy (as the waiter), Rehana Shukla (as Priya), Matroo (as the college watchman), Sameer Pandey (as the sub-inspector), Atharva Verma (as Devina’s brother) and Zara Khan (in an item song-dance) lend average support.
Dhiraj Kumar’s direction is weak. His narration does nothing to uplift the dull drama. Music (BH Music Café, Raaj Aashoo, Vipin Patwa and DJ Emenes) is okay. Although a couple of songs are decently tuned, they are not at all popular. Lyrics (Shabbir Ahmed and Abhendra Kumar Upadhyay) are okay. Vijay Ganguly’s choreography is so-so. Bapi-Tutul’s background music is ordinary. Attar Singh Saini’s cinematography is average. Ramen Das’ art direction is commonplace. Hira Yadav’s action and stunt scenes are nothing to shout about. Parth Bhat’s editing is not very sharp.
On the whole, Kaashi is a flop fare, a non-starter.
Released on 26-10-’18 at Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Raksha Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Publicity & opening: poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.