Vicky Kaushal's 'Masaan' and other Bollywood films that were shot in Varanasi

Varanasi, which was earlier known as Benares, and is sometimes also referred to as Kashi is a beautiful city located on the banks of the Ganges in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Benares is also known as the spiritual capital of India and a huge number of people visit the place to seek blessings of God and the Ganga river. The Bollywood industry always makes sure that they capture and shoot the movies at places which are famous and well-known. Benares is one of the few cities which treasures the old world charm and also managed to catch the fancy of cinematographers since years. Some of the popular movies of Bollywood that are shot in Benares are Vicky Kaushal's Masaan, Sonam Kapoor's Raanjhanaa among several others. Below, we have compiled a list-

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Bollywood films shot in Benares

Raanjhanaa

Sonam Kapoor, Dhanush, and Abhay Deol starrer, Raanjhanaa was an Aanand L Rai’s directorial. The movie, Raanjhana was set in Benaras, where the stars Sonam Kapoor played the role of Zoya, while Dhanush portrayed Kundan. This Romantic-Hindi drama showcased a one-sided love story, where Dhanush was head over heels in the love of Zoya. Raanjhanaa also was Dhanush’s Bollywood debut. The movie had some amazing hit numbers that are still fan-favourite.

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Masaan

Vicky Kaushal started his acting career by playing his first leading role in the Neeraj Ghaywan directorial drama Masaan (2015). He starred in this film alongside Richa Chadha. Vicky Kaushal’s performance in Masaan won him the IIFA Award and Screen Awards under the category of the Best Male Debut, and a nomination for the Asian Film Award for Best Newcomer.  The film, Masaan was set in Benaras, present-day, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and was shot on real locations in the holy city.

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Laaga Chunari Mein Daag

Laaga Chunari Mein Daag was released in the year 2007 and was a drama film directed by Pradeep Sarkar. The film starred Rani Mukherjee, Abhishek Bachchan, along with Konkona Sen Sharma and several other actors of Bollywood. This film was particularly based on a lower-middle-class family set in Banaras. To restrain this problem and the economic issues of the family, the elder daughter of the family (Rani Mukherjee) chooses to move to Mumbai. And there she becomes an escort to support her family with the problems. The film was helmed by Pradeep Sarkar.

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