Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; March 6, 2014)

Mahesh Bhatt will soon be making his acting debut with Mukul Misra’s Siddhartha, in which he plays a Buddhist monk. The story is about a boy who is lost in the brothels of Varanasi and comes to Manali, where he meets Bhatt’s character, who sees Buddha in him and helps find answers to questions he has had. He is at the lowest point in his life when he comes to Manali and it is here that he meets Shazahn Padamsee’s character and falls in love with her. Shazahn, too, is a Buddhist girl, who stays with her father figure Mahesh Bhatt. Talking to us, Shazahn said, “It’s uncanny, but weeks before this offer came to me, one of my childhood friends Simone, suggested that I do chanting and get into Buddhism. I did it for a few weeks and was hit by the stark coincidence, when this film was offered to me.”