It may not have set the cash registers jingling but Pankaj Parashar's 'Banaras-A Mystic Love Story' has warmed the hearts of many a film critic, both at home and abroad, for brilliantly putting across the message of spirituality, a subject few films in Indian cinema have touched upon.

The film, which stars Bollywood actor Urmila Matondkar as a young woman, who is forced to search for the true meaning of life after suffering a terrible personal tragedy, has been lauded by critics as ''an excellent attempt to explore the complex relationship of humans with God, while using Banaras - or Varanasi as the temple city in Uttar Pradesh is now called - and its spiritual wisdom as the backdrop.''

Talking about the film, Jaspreet Pandohar, a film critic with the BBC said, ''it's less superstition and more spirituality which is at the heart of this thought provoking drama. It takes a mature storyteller to tackle a film like 'Banaras' that combines a love story with spiritualism and Parashar does it with sensitivity.''

''Through the depiction of tumultuous events that change the life of an upper caste Brahmin girl and a lower cast boy, the director actually opens up the centuries-old debate between science and theology that is the key to unlocking the climactic secret journey taken by the main protagonists and the personal one experienced by viewers,'' Mr Pandohar said.

Infact, in terms of its brilliant depiction of the message of spirituality, some film critics compared the film with the Oscar-nominees 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'Crash'.