A Sanskrit priest decides to take matters in n his hand when the locals of holy town Banaras stars to lure foreign tourists with fake spiritual gurus.
Based on Dr. Kashinath Singh's Hindi novel 'Kashi Ka Assi', a religious satire based on the commercialization of the pilgrimage city, and fake gurus who lure the visitors and tourists. Assi Ghat is a burning ghat on the river banks of Ganges flowing into the middle of Banaras, India. The film is based in a famous, historical locality by the ghat, on the southern end of Banaras (Varanasi).—itsuvie
The film is loosely based on Dr. Kashinath Singh's popular Hindi novel Kashi Ka Assi, a satire on the commercialization of the pilgrimage city, and fake gurus who lure the foreign tourists. Assi Ghat is a ghat in Varanasi (Banaras) on the banks of Ganges River and has a famous and historical 'Mohalla' (locality) by the ghat, on the southern end of Banaras.
It is 1988. Kanni Guru (Ravi Kishen) is a tourist guide in Banaras. He takes foreign tourists around Banaras, including the Assi ghat where Tulsidas wrote the Ramayana. Guru is a MA in Hindi literature and has no other employment prospects and hence has to resort all sorts of tricks to earn a living from the foreign tourists.
Assi Ghat also has Dr Dharamnath Pande (Sunny Deol) who is a priest on the Ghat & lives in a nearby Mohalla. Pande detests the traditional Hindu priests on the Ghat like Upadhyay (Saurabh Shukla), who have made a business out of their trade. In his Mohalla, the other Brahmans like Chaubey Ji (Srichand Makhija) have rented out their rooms to tourists & other immigrants, who often eat meat. Pande is vociferously opposed to that and asserts that Sanatan Dharma is under attack not by foreigners but by local domestic Pandits.
His wife Savitri (Sakshi Talwar) hates the fact that Pande will not ask for fair compensation for his services, & instead would willingly take whatever is offered to him. Savitri and Pande live in a modest home on the banks of the river Ganga and have a Shiv temple on the ground floor.
Tanni Guru (Akhilendra Mishra) is the more militant religious arm of Assi Ghat who is willing to resort to violence to keep the Ghat pure. Gaya Singh (Retired Principal) (Mithilesh Chaturvedi) wants to continue the tradition of a literary festival in Banaras, which has been banned by the ruling political party. Inspector Sharma (Pradeep Chaudhry) harasses Gaya and his associates, who are defiant in their mission.
Guru finds an American tourist Catherine (Alisha), who is looking to stay on the ghats. But the problem is that no Brahmin will rent his room to a foreigner as they are considered godless. Guru petitions a few Brahmins & convinces them to rent a room to Catherine, but Pande creates a ruckus & rallies the community behind him to stop the entry of foreigners into the Mohalla. The community does not agree with Pande as they all like the money the foreigners bring but are unable to counter his arguments regarding the desecration of ancient religious sites by the foreigners. Pande says that foreign tourists have no morals and indulge in sex and drugs right on the Ghats.
Guru is angry & finally convinces a man from a different community (not Brahmin) in the same Mohalla, to rent his room to the foreigner.Catherine wants to meet a Baba, and Guru takes her to meet Slate Baba, who only communicates by writing with chalk on a piece of slate. The Baba says that the India of future will think less and speak more.
Guru's assistant Nek Ram (Faisal Rashid) (who is the local barber) has sex with Catherine, which is seen by the wife of the room renter Ramdayi (Seema Azmi). She has sex with Nek Ram as well.
Pande is staunch supporter of the Ayodhya Ram Janm Bhoomi agitation. He is heading a group of 12 Kar Sevaks to go to Ayodhya. Savitri doesn't want Pande to participate, but he is adamant. Pande attends the march but is shot in the leg by the police. The Mohalla residents celebrate his sacrifice, but Savitri is livid.Nek Ram runs away with Catherine & both return a few months later with Nek Ram in reincarnation as barber Baba, funded by Catherine's money. Nek Ram has bought a land near Banaras, where he opens a yoga ashram, while Catherine writes another book on Banaras's past.
While Pande's is adamant to uphold his culture which means that his children can't even afford to learn computers. Pande tries to find an honest paying job to fund his children's ambitions but can't as his skills have no value in real life.
Nek Ram comes to meet Pande & tells him that poverty is his sin. Nek Ram is rich today as he has sold his soul. Pande relents & approaches Guru to find him a tenant. Guru brings a French woman & Pande accepts. Savitri is livid & afraid that Pande might have an affair with the French woman. But Pande is again adamant to have the French woman in his house as tenant, to provide a better future for his kids.
Pande is happy that he would get some extra money, but that evening, Guru tells Pande that the French woman has agreed to pay the money, but only for a specific room in the house, for which he will need to convert the house temple into a toilet. Pande resolves the situation by increasing Guru's commission & finally the French woman takes the room.
But this only means that Savitri ends up becoming French woman's maid at her beck and call 24 hours a day. Finally, Pande has a dream where Shivji orders him to move his temple to the roof. This will free up the temple room to be converted into a toilet and improve Pande's income. The next day Pande starts doing that, but the Shiv Ling breaks apart while moving. Taking cue from Pande's actions, the entire Brahmin community starts doing the same, freeing up rooms on the ground floor of their houses, to convert into guest rooms or toilets. Pande and Savitri are distraught, so Pande brings a new Shiv Ling into his home & establishes it secretly, as the rest of his community would not approve.
