Welcome Sajjanpur only once (Movie Review: Welcome to Sajjanpur)

Over the years, I have seen, understood, interpreted, communicated and the various things which keeps my mind busy (not necessarily in the same order) about social, political, psychological, emotional, religious etc. topics. I have found myself and the others debating finding no solution or a defnite end for the same.

Especially when the topics revolve around the state like India, the discussion goes on and on and on. But at the end of all these discussions, I have realised that these discussions never end. There are no solutions. There is no end. For example, political topics like elections, bad leader and good leader, an enuch leader, a lady leader, corruption OR a social topics like life of a widower, superstitions OR psychological topics like psyche of a struggling author or an Eunuch or, a wife whose husband is away from her for four years OR emotional topics like a love story between two childhood friends or between a widower and a compounder OR regional topics like the Hindu-Muslim fight. These topics have no permanent solutions or a definite end.

All these topics, when they come under one roof (i.e. village called Sajjanpur - I guess it must be in Madhya Pradesh due to its dialect), the house is named "Welcome to Sajjanpur". The movie displays a perspective on all the topics already mentioned but does not commit the mistake of getting preachy.Director Shyam Benegal (people call him the mastermind of parellel cinema or legend of Art movies) known for his movies like "Mandi", "Zubeida", "Sardari Begum" and the previous one "Bose: The forgotten hero" comes with yet again a very different kind of movie. "Welcome to Sajjanpur" is a take on all the topics mentioned earlier. In a village of illiterates, Mahadev (Shreyas Talpade), a qualified literate and a wannabe author, finds a profession in letter writing. He writes letters for Kamala (Amrita Rao), his childhood love, who is married to Bansi (Kunaal Kapur), but not happy since Bansi has left the village and fled to Mumbai for earning. He also writes letter for others like a local goon and an aspiring MLA Ramsingh (Yashpal Sharma) which are directed to the Collector's office. He also writes letter for Munnibai (Ravi Jhankal) , a eunuch and also an aspiring leader. One more in the list is compounder Ramkumar (Ravi Kisen) who is deeply in love with a widow Shobharani (Rajeshwari Sachdev) and wants to send a love letter to her. And last but not the least, Mausi (Ila Arun), a superstitious woman, wants her daughter Vindhya (Divya Dutta) to get desperately married to a dog as a good omen. But Mahadev writes letters in his own way. This cunning activity creates the gist of the story.

Technically, the movie is a slow paced. Even the dialogues are in a rural MP dialect which may become a problem for multiplex audience. But one thing that works for the movie is its simplistic nature. Sometime some parts of the movie resemble Hrishikesh Mukherjee's type of direction. Mr. Benegal proves that he has full potential to handle satire and cannot be restricted to serious art movies. Music by Shantanu Moitra is not mind blasting but defnitely suits the film's nature. The sets and the backdrop of the film is perfect.

Performances - The film belongs to Shreyas Talpade. He can be the next Amol Palekar since at times, I noticed an uncanny resemblance. He is a complete natural. No wonder SRK once said that after a long time he acted with a good actor. Amrita Rao looks beautiful but repeats her 'Vivaah' act. Yashpal Sharma gives nothing new. Ravi Kissen, acts to his potential. Rajeshwari Sachdev, hardly has anything to perform. Divya Dutta is excellent in one or two odd scenes. Kunal Kapoor, does well in a cameo. But two outstanding acts are from Ravi Jhankal and Ila Arun. Both of them steal the show.

This movie is definitely one time watchable. Watch it more for the performances and Shyam Benegal's efficient directorial skills. Njoy!!!

Rating - 3/5