When Brad Pitt visited Varanasi, said he found it 'absolutely staggering', was in awe of how it 'spilled into Ganges'

In 2012, Brad Pitt spoke about his visit to the 'absolutely staggering' Varanasi, and how he was in awe of the way the 'city spills into the river Ganges'.

Actor Brad Pitt has visited India on several occasions, the most recent being a hush-hush trip to Mumbai in 2016. But before that, the actor came to the country for work. He accompanied then-wife Angelina Jolie, who was shooting for A Mighty Heart, and then filmed a sequence for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in Varanasi.

Brad Pitt in Varanasi.

Directed by David Fincher, the Oscar-winning film featured a montage sequence that showed the titular character travelling the world. One stop was Varanasi. The sequence was shot by director Tarsem Singh.

In 2012, while promoting his film Killing Them Softly, Pitt spoke about the quick trip. He told DNA, "On my last visit, I got to see a lot of India. There is no place like it. And it’s so diverse — both the South and the North, that one cannot get to see all of it in a couple of weeks. But I found Varanasi absolutely staggering. I have never seen anything like it before. The city just spills into the river Ganges. It’s a holy place where people go to die. It’s really, really extraordinary!"

Brad Pitt in a still from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

In a 2006 interview with NDTV, he spoke about his love for Indian food such as 'chicken masala, dal and naan'. In 2011, he told Hindustan Times about his 2006 trip, “I’ve never seen a country like India; it was an extraordinary trip. And we absolutely loved Deepavali, the Indian festival of lights.”

In 2020, another Hollywood star, Will Smith, took to Instagram to post pictures of himself soaking in the spiritual side of India. Sharing pictures of himself, participating at the Ganga aarti in Haridwar, the actor wrote that his visit to India ‘awakened a new understanding’ of himself.

He wrote in an Instagram post, “My Grandmother used to say, ‘God Teaches through experience.’ Travelling to India and experiencing the colours, people and natural beauty has awakened a new understanding of myself, my art and the truths of the world.”