Welcome to Sajjanpur

After taking a break from direction for about 7 years, one of my all time favourite directors is back and this time with something different: a satirical comedy. 'Welcome to Sajjanpur' is such a joy to watch. It isn't an out-and-out comedy as there are elements of tragedy but the film feels refreshing and genuine. When most Hindi movies nowadays are set in foreign locations, 'Welcome to Sajjanpur' is set in a fictitious Indian village and it tells the humble story of the inhabitants of that village. I don't recall Benegal ever having made a comedy and here he succeeds greatly. The sharp writing consists of some hilariously witty dialogues, rich and sincere characters and laugh-out-loud situations. I enjoyed all the letter-writing sequences with the colourful characters. Benegal also cleverly presents themes such as politics, 'gay' rights and widow remarriage into the plots. The songs too fit well with the story although the dream sequence filmed on Talpade and Rao in an airplane is awkward.

The performances are splendid. Ila Arun and Divya Dutta are awesome as the conflicting mother-daughter duo. Amrita Rao is marvelous as the married village belle. Ravi Kishan finally gets to display his comic talents in a substantial role. Rajeshwari Sachdev is impressive in a small role. She's particularly funny in the scene where her father-in-law asks her to read the letter from Ramkumar. Yashpal Sharma is adequate. Kunal Kapoor thankfully only has a teeny role.

And, 'Welcome to Sajjanpur' is confidently carried by Shreyas Talpade, one of the most talented young actors of the current generation. Benegal's previous films indicate that he has an eye for talented actors and he has cleverly cast Talpade in the lead role. The actor delivers a finely balanced and very natural performance.

I can safely add 'Welcome to Sajjanpur' to my list of favourite films of the year and so far it is one of the best Hindi films of 2008. If you're looking for an something in the form of good entertainment, innovative storytelling with some interesting themes and good cinema, then this is that movie.

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!).

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.

Oh, what a movie! I just finished watching it and I cant think anything bad about this movie. Actors, location, script, music and .... the tremendously talented director.

I cannot imagine how did Shyam Benegal turned such a simple rural story into such a entertaining masterpiece! Yeah, I have not watched much of his movies, which is kind of a sin, I know. But, now that I have seen this, I will surely watch all the others.

The story is about a mostly illiterate village, where our hero Mahadev (Shreyas Talpade) is an educated but unestablished person, who writes and reads letters for people. In this strange occupation, he meets several dimensional persons, such as a superstitious mother of an unmarried girl, an illiterate but benevolent politician, a do-gooder eunuch, a love-struck compounder and the most desired: his childhood crush who is waiting for her husband to come from Mumbai.

Mr Benegal skillfully displayed all of the grayish characters throughout the movie, including our hero. Though the main theme is comedy, the film slowly starts touching into your spines by resembling any of our lives, any normal Indian's life.

I could have gone describing the complete story, but I would really like you guys to go and watch the movie yourself, its like a fantasy story revealing itself slowly to be as normal as any other normal human being.

Kudos, Shyam Benegal.

"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.