Welcome to Sajjanpur

"Welcome to Sajjanpur" is a revival of times on the lines of Malgudi Days and the flavour of of Hrishikesh Mukhejee & Basu Chatterjee. The fictitious village comprises of characters very humane, easily identifiable and oozing with simplicity (well, not quite!).

The narrative is extremely smooth and carries you with the flow. Shyam Benegal attempts an unexplored territory and once again he proves what a versatile director he is. With "Welcome to Sajjanpur" Shyam Benegal to a certain degree incorporates commercial elements into his style yet retaining the flavour of parallel cinema.

All the characters seem hand-picked as they are perfectly suited to the "T". Every actor gets adequate space as per the demands necessitated by the character. It seemed only Divya Dutta's character/ role was not fleshed out / elaborated (and her participation in the end was kind of coming).

In the times of heavy-weights & escapism cinema, "Welcome to Sajjanpur" manages to command a foothold in its own rights. Don't miss this movie at any costs.

Nice comedy set up completely in the rural India, with jokes that make good sense in the local dialect which should not be difficult to comprehend. Ace director Shyam Benegal has made a perfect movie, albeit quite different from the serious classics he has directed in the past. Shreyas Talpade as the aspiring novelist ends up being a scribe, and therefore has a peek into everyone's lives in the village. Ends up manipulating people's lives through letters, especially his love interest's. Quite a number of funny sub plots follow, and the humor doesn't let you feel they are getting too many to remember. A few melodious numbers add to the movie.

This is a rather surprising satirical comedy from a director, cousin of the late and legendary Guru Dutt, who has normally directed classic movies such as "Zubeida" and "Junoon."

Mahadev, one of the few educated men, lives in the village of Sajjanpur, which he claims was originally named Doorjanpur until the late Jawaharlal Nehru makes a visit and orders it to be renamed "Sajjanpur." He makes his living by writing songs an stories but the real bread winner is writing letters for the illiterate members of the village, of which one is Kamla, the girl who once, at school gets him into trouble but who he likes.

Starring Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao, Divya Dutta, Yashpal Sharma, Rajeshwari Sachdeva, Ila Arun and Ravi Kishan. This is directed by Shyam Benegal and written by Shyam Benegal and Ashok Mishra.

Shryeas Talpade has proved his talent as an actor who played the role of Shah Rukh Khan's friend in "Om Shanti Om" last year to this one while Amrita Rao has proved that she can play the role of a young girl in love to a matured one living in a village. Divya Dutta just excels in her role herewith a rather surprising impact and there's not much need to say much about her talent as she has shown it before in movies such as "Veer – Zaara."

Conclusion: This is a good satirical comedy and is worthwhile watching. However, if one does not like to watch films that are located in a village, then it may not appeal to them and the same goes for those who do not enjoy such comedy genres.

For a movie maker of the caliber of Shayam Benegal is, it goes without saying with his invite to Sajjanpur comes along a bouquet of expectations. The only other movie of his that I’ve seen is Zubaidaa and I was amazed at his story telling quality! This time, the setting is rustic with characters from a usual random village. The film is presented as a slice of life from the perspective of the protagonist than a story with a beginning and end.

Mahadev, the only degree holder in Sajjanpur nurses ambitions to be a novel writer someday, but fate has sealed him to writing letters for the illiterate village folk who come to him not just for his knowledge of the letter but also for his ability to write with that extra zing and passion that makes the letters work. Playing the protagonist, Shreyas Talpade gets the largest of movie pie that he executes with brilliance without going overboard.

Our writer’s clientèle takes us through the minds of the varied village folk. It ranges from his childhood crush Kamla (Amrita Rao) who writes to her far away husband, a mother (Ila Arun) worried about her vibrant daughter’s (Divya Dutta) horoscope, a compounder (Ravi Kishan) who is deeply in love with the young widow Shobharani (Rajeshwari Sachdev), the villainous ex-Sarpanch Ramlal (Yashpal Sharma) and a Eunuch too.

The next couple of hours, which at times feels somewhat stretched, give us a glimpse of their lives. Mahadev is good at heart and does well to others, but he secretly tries to misread letters to Kamla thinking that he may have a chance if her husband went away. Ramlal tries his best to connive against the Eunuch Munnibai to ensure it doesn’t win the local elections. As is life, in the end, it’s happy for some sad for others.

Throughout the movie, its poignant moments are interspersed so delicately that you don’t feel any character being out of place. The best in my opinion is when Mahadev learns the truth about Kamala’s husband’s life, where Shreyas’ flowing emotions are so well portrayed. Then there is the scene of Munnibai getting a letter written seeking protection. For one, the music is not memorable and the seeming length may bother.

The characters of Sajjanpur are both simpletons at times and wise in the ways of the world when necessary. The movie makes a point on various serious social issues including land acquisitions for industrialization, struggle of the poor and fall into organ trade, widow remarriage, superstitions, job worry for the educated and many more. If you don’t mind the lack of typical stories and climaxes, this story is surely worth watching.

It's great to have Shyam Benegal back making films again. He's relaunched himself with a fairly light film, one that reminded me of another of my favorite directors of the 80s, Sai Paranjpe. Both Sai and Shyam are so good at capturing the quirks of village life, warts and all. Welcome To Sajjanpur actually does have some dark elements, but the director doesn't seem to want to ruin India Shining's cheery mood by dwelling on these too much. Be warned, a lot of the language in this film is Bhojpuri, especially the dialogs of Ila Arun. I missed a lot of her funny lines, but the Bhojpuri speaking people in the audience were laughing out loud. The performances of the actors were all great - Shyam is obviously good at casting. Don't know if this film is destines to run for long, so I'd advise everyone to go out and see it right away. Or you could always wait to see it on TV (UTV Spotboy movies make it to TV in 3 months) or buy the DVD (for Rs 50!).