Welcome to Sajjanpur is a must watch but….
…..make sure that you know what virya or shilajit is. Because recently i had a tough time trying to explain few friends what batasha looks like and if its gud (jaggery) batasha then how is the taste different.
When tackling social issues in mainstream format is branded as “ngo filmmaking” and politics is strictly no-no, then Shyambabu must be having tough times. Am wondering if Welcome To Sajjanpur (WTS) took shape during those desperate hours. A story where the corporates can see the entertainment value and the director can have a good night’s sleep too without thinking about selling his soul.
It really pisses me off when any friend of mine forward me one of those mails that are supposed to bring good luck if you forward it 20 guys, otherwise bad luck. i feel like tracking down the guy and cause some real bad luck to him. And here am not talking about illiterate or dumb people. The world has changed around us but we cant get away with moronic habits. Benegal’s film has a character like that, who wants Mahadev to write some 100 letters and send it to people so that he can have good luck. And its just the tip of the iceberg. If you sit down and start counting as to what all problems/issues the writer and the director has incorportaed in the film, you would be amazed. You name it and its there….Animal welfare board, nuclear deal, sale of human organs, family planning, the great manglik debate (big thnx to bigb), army’s free fund, easy loans, eunuchs, widow remarriage, politics, singur, minorities and much more.
Every dialogue packs in so much punch. Not sure when was the last time any hindi film made me laugh so much. Its an era of Ling is King and humour is all about Krorepati Kumar’s ling in wrong direction.
So three cheers to Ashok Mishra, the writer (screenplay and dialogue) of the film. Because it belongs to him, from start to finish. Sample this….dande ne khoob kiya raaj….panje ne khoob kiya raaj….ab munni ki baari…democracy song is hilarious as Munnibai says main aisi taisi nahi janti, bus demo-craisi janti hoon!
And those who are complaining that its not Benegal film, please let the man have some fun too. How many dare to do it at 75 ? And what good fun it is. Why do you want him to repeat himself ?
WTS is a social-political satire that has a love story at its core. A story that has many colourful characters who are dealing with many serious issues in thier life. But Benegal and Mishra looks at everything through a comic prism. And Mahadev is the common link between all of them. When the first promos of the film came out, i was skeptical as it looked tacky and my fear was that it would look like a filmcity fake village. But few minutes into the film and i was relieved. Sajjanpur is far far away from fimcity. And its not some desi village exotica to add to indian tourism. Its real, it talks real and deals with our life and headlines of our times.
The music of the film didnt wok for me because suddenly it sounded too sophiticated and urbane. Also, the last 15 minutes, was hurried up. Am sure that other characters had few more scenes and they are chopped off considering the length of the film.
Came out of the theatre chanting sitaram sitaram, chiiti aayi na patri aayi na aaya telegram, sitaram sitaram. Kept wondering when was the last time i wrote a letter to someone ? Hmmmm…..hmmmmm….cant think of. While looking at the promotional brochure of the film, a colleague could not figure out what it was. And I was going on and on about it, see see its a small film but they have good ideas and this and that. My colleague asked me what it is ? The brochure was designed like an inland letter with space for writing address and everything else was put inisde it. He could not figure it out because he could not remember how an inland letter looks like.
So, head to your nearest screen to catch the art of letter writing before postcards, inland letters and money orders make it to the museum. And plz plz do carry your brains along with yousrelf. Enough of leaving them at home and laughing out braindead. Welcome to Sajjanpur respects it unlike others.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Some wise guy said “everything before the but is a lie…..”
anyways will catch up with this ASAP
“Enough of leaving them at home and laughing out braindead. Welcome to Sajjanpur respects it unlike others.”
bhaut badiya…raakh se uthe hue bhaiyya…..
i liked the film.. it was good but a little loud at times or maybe because i was sitting just next to the speaker i got that extra loudness…
they shud have avoided the songs the kept the climax scenes
the ’sitaram’ song is really catchy
@ vasan
“bhaut badiya…raakh se uthe hue bhaiyya…..”
achcha line hai likh leta hun……….
“Enough of leaving them at home and laughing out braindead. Welcome to Sajjanpur respects it unlike others.”
Vasan has already said it.Cant stop repeating myself.Great line!!!!
Ah the great “inland letter” and the “postcard” also the “gud wala batasha” ,you touched many a nostalgic chords here ,I was fortunate enough to grow up in a small town and still retain the “mitti ki khushbu” with me ,will definitely catch WTS.
A nice review for a very rare film.
thank god someone praised this movie so high.I have seen people laughing and chuckling, but while watching WTS people were literally falling from there chairs in a suburb multiplex. What stuck me hard was that, every character, dialogue and scene has some significance, there not there just for sake of creating humor.Dialogues seemed like they were written by great hindi “vangya”(satire) writes like Gopal Chaturvedi , Harishanker parsai and Manohar Shyam Joshi.This movie proves again that to make and enjoy humar you do not need to leave your brain at home. Thanks to all people who made this brilliant movie.I feel this movie is in leauge of JBY. ROCK ON,MMJ,A WEDNESDAY,TAHAN and now WTS, can not ask for more.
Well written. Thanks Phoenixnu.
havent seen the movie. not seen a lot of promos (dont follow much of tv). was a wee bit excited about WTS (pre-release as it was Shyam Benegal + Satire). heard decent reviews (Khalid Md etc). became slightly happy. but after reading this post, eager to watch it (courtesy the examples cited, which actually made me laugh)
.
I disagree with screenplay…a great story but average story telling…I don’t know who should be blamed…screenplay writer or editor…or its director…for dialogues an award is must…
I am tired of judging a movie, as if it were a product, a good of consumption that needs to be enjoyed and discussed about, like we discuss soaps, T-shirts and pizzas. Judging a movie purely on the basis on number of jumpcuts, freeze frames, slick editing has become so commonplace now a days, that cinema as a medium of communication has lost its meaning. It has become a national time-pass to rate a movie with stars on the basis of dialogues, hip-appeal and slickness (Let’s give them a 4* for dialogues,3* for appeal ad nauseam).
Movies are a medium, to reach out to thousands of people, but people are just not willing to accept or even notice this fact. Just as the precious National time on News Channels is wasted on Alien Attacks, LHC experiments destroying the earth(one of them even had a reverse counter,kudos Indian News Media) etc.
When I say movies are a medium of communication, I’ll need to look into other mediums. Books have shaped our histories, Street plays and Theater brought sweeping changes to zeitgeist of erstwhile times, . These medium of communications viz. Books, Street plays and Theaters are pointless and worthless without the receivers i.e the people .The creator feels cheated if his creation is just measured in ratings, just as Shyam Benegal would feel.
‘Mahadev’ brings home a point-illiteracy. Education bestows a power to an individual, a power that all of us take granted for. The people of Sajjanpur do not understand how vulnerable their lives are. Unscrupulous people take advantage of their ignorance. A point brought home only half-jokingly.
It is a plain movie on the surface, but underneath has a solid core that makes one think just how very important Education is.
In my opinion,Education also encompasses judging good vs bad, a knowledge of our surroundings and understanding our responsibilities; in the absence of which we are just as illiterate and vulnerable as people of Sajjanpur.
Dear Sushant,
I agree..i think subliminal messaging is very powerful..it is again a perspective that says that such a medium should be only about entertainment and not make us think..so the very people who claim that movies is pure entertainment are also saying that with intelligence and their perspective.
Benegal has over his life tried to make people think and done it subtely..i hope this movie gets seen across the country including in the Sajjanpur’s of the world..
[Editor Note : Sammy, Please keep focus on the film and discuss its merits and demerits in a civilized langauge. Don't try to attack, author of the post or film maker on a personal basis. Don't misuse the liberty to post on this forum. Majority of people want to see a quality based debate and not some kind of personal attacks. Your comment had violated Passionforcinema.com's comments policy so it has partially been deleted.]
———————————————————————————————-
Bhai Phoenix ( deleted….. ……) if this is intelligent humor than sing is king can be called a masterpiece …havent seen such stereotyped dumass characters in a long time…Sasur whoz was in army and vidvah bahu reminded me of Mohabattein..If nothing else Benegal (….deleted)
sitaram reminded me of dakiya dak laya (rajesh khanna song)…yet to catch the movie
Great article in support of WTS. I was disappointed with the mainstream critics who feel like they have hold back something from whole heartedly praising a gem like this. For me the warmth in the movie and characters was what endeared me the most to the movie. Kudos Shyam Babu
Simple and nice idea. Great dialogues. Had the right approach. But unfortunately, I think an erratic & perhaps the uneven pacing of the film, kills what could have been a fabulous film. Needed to be drastically re-edited… its what I guess I would call a rough cut, not the final version. The voice-over in the end was such a disappointment – it was as if, u suddenly realise that the film’s getting long, and so, lets speed it up. Either the voice over as a technique shd have been used right through, or not at all! Also, perhaps too many issues were being addressed. Though, no issues at all with that … because instead of being pedantic… thought they were all approached with some great humour. Nice, realistic & rustic characters too… overall, i enjoyed the film, but wished it had gone in for a tighter edit.
that inland thing u mentioned happened? but arent they still around (regardless of the fact that most urbanites dont use it)?
‘WELCOME TO SAJJANPUR’ is a delight!
I had a HUGE smile plastered across my face for 2hours!
And a few tears too.
Shreyas Talpade was OUT OF THIS WORLD!
A treat!
Loved his performance.
Nice to see a ‘gaon ki kahani’ after so long.
Definitely worth a watch!
Having travelled with Benegal Saab since my student days as a passionate fan of parallel cinema it was a pleasnt experience to see him with a new format and with so many messages all packed in one.