Religion

Amongst all the masala entertainers that Bollywood is churning out, this beautifully crafted film is very refreshing. The plot is very crisp with a running time of 103 minutes.

The story revolves around the life of the most reputed Pandit (Brahmin) located in Banaras. It is a gripping tale packed with lots of emotional punches and forces the viewer to introspect religion vs secularism.

The main highlight in my opinion was the role of the main protagonist portrayed by Pankaj Kapur. Add to it the beautiful city of Banaras so amazingly captured with very apt background music. Full credit goes to the cinematographer for the neat and crystal clear close up shots (at many instances) which depicts the emotional turmoil of the Pandit through mere facial expressions and body language. I couldn't believe that this was Bhavna Talwar's (director) debut film. Simply Bravo!

For people looking for masala entertainment, stay away from it as you "might" get bored with the deep sensitivity that this film offers. For others, just give it a try and I'm sure you wont regret it!

Must watch movie for everyone. Just one word awesome

Pankaj Kapur has always been at his best on the silver screen of Indian Cinema. Making an appearance this time as an orthodox Hindu priest, he leaves an indelible image of "Pandit Chaturvedi" in our minds.

The story, set in the oldest city of India - Varanasi, shows us a chapter in the life of this protagonist who staunchly believes in his "Dharm" - the universal principle of living - and the ways in which he applies this divine law to himself and his fellowmen. It's about how he discovers that humanity is above all and it is knowledge that completes a human being. Though the theme has been shown in Indian cinema many times before, I never had experienced it so touchingly.

The screenplay flows at a steady pace, brings in characters and takes them out of the script to present cinema in its purest form. The backdrop of Varanasi is the best I've seen on the silver screen.

Watch this movie to seek a soul stirring experience of witnessing beautiful images, mesmerizing colors, soothing music, blended seamlessly and celebrated by excellent screenplay and cinematography.

Bhavana, which's your next project?

Such a movie is once in a decade thing, if not more. Dharm is about religion, as the word literally mean in English, and explores religion in a new way. We have seen many movies where orthodoxy is slammed but Dharm justifies it beautifully and slowly transcends into a secular mode which, again, is affirmed by Dharm only. Religious faith is not seen with disregard but with respect. Rituals are not panned. They are redefined. Its story of a priest known for his values. He is a bit rigid with what he follows. Once incident takes place what follows has definitely no parallel in whatever cinema I had witnessed till today.

Pankaj Kapoor as Pandit Chaturvedi and Supriya Pathak as obedient wife raised their bar of acting to a new level.

Dharm is too good film and it is really deserve to get Oscar for 2008. Pankaj Kapur is too brilliant in his acting. In fact No one can perform like Pankaj for the role "Pandit Chaturvedji". Hats of to you Pankaj Kapur. I remembered when i used to watch "Arya Chankya" serial of Dr. Chandra Prakash. I can co-relate the sense of dialogs and Sanskrit featured in the Arya Chankya. One should always remember his karma before his religion and perform duties towards it. I wish we get such movies to watch in future. Thanks to Director and Script writer of this movie. Wish you best of luck and thanks a lot again for such wonderful movie