Welcome To Sajjanpur Is Disappointing
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iView Author: Sulakshana Biswas (Kolkata, India)
Email: pottermaniac143 [at] gmail [dot] com
Welcome To Sajjanpur Is Disappointing
Is it too much to ask for if we expect something better than a slapstick comedy that has gone horribly wrong, which does not give you undiluted entertainment but annoys you to the core from a man who is the harbinger of the middle cinema in India. I refuse to believe that Welcome To Sajjanpur is a film by Shyam Benegal; I mean throughout the odd 120 minutes or so the same feeling would haunt you if you’ve seen the Ankurs and Nishants and Mandis and Suraj Ka Satwa Ghodas and Junoons…. (I can go on and on and on) that amazed us, shocked us, and entertained us in a manner that only stark reality can. Yes, it was very difficult to distinguish between his films and reality and the way he kept the viewer engrossed from the word ‘go’ was disappointingly absent in WTS. You have bits and pieces of cinematic moments strewn here and there where the Shyam Benegal I knew was lurking, but just a few moments do not make a great film. I do not know, till what extent did he want to push us in a bid to test our patience, half-hearted performances, corny dialogues, OTT meaningless song-and-dance routines, I mean what was he thinking. After the screening I felt so angry, so sad………. sad to see the Art of Shyam Benegal shamelessly commoditized.
Throughout the first half you feel that it has been ghost directed by Priyadarshan, and when I say Priyadarshan I do not mean Hera Pheri, it can be a Malaamal Weekly or Bhagam Bhag. One-liners pretending to be witty, garish didaction of the narrative appear fake and clich'©d to say the least. Any dream sequence has the liberty to show absolutely anything under the sun, but the song in question only cater to the annoyance , and I am NOT talking about the dheere dheere track rendition by KK, that song is pretty decent compared to the others. Speaking of the soundtrack, the background score is highly reminiscent of Lage Raho Munnabhai(the prelude of the pal pal track is used here) and one wonders whatever had happened to the deadly duo of Shantanu Moitra and Swanand Kirkire . Ravi Kishen is annoying, Shreyas Talpade is decent in some scenes but too dramatic in most (his diction sounds so damn fake), ditto for Amrita Rao but she is arguably better, but full marks to Yashpal Sharma, Ravi Jhankal and Ila Arun. Divya Dutt, Rajeshwari Sachdev, and Rajit Kapur are a total waste.
The reference to the Nandigram episode, the deliberation in showing a eunuch as the one practicing democracy in politics (the irony lies when Shreyas remarks” Ramji ne kahaan tha , Kalyug mein toh hijro ka raj chalega”), et al are the few places where you find the mise-en-scene plausible. But all in all these few refreshing breeze of air do not have the requisite potential of the gusty wind that would set the ship of Benegal’s cinema sailing. It’s only when you arrive at the climax that you get the taste of pathos, magnificently executed by the master, a thing that is his signature stroke.
The man, who can boast of the most prestigious awards and titles in Indian Cinema standing on his living room mantelpiece, cannot come out with such a pathetic film. True that WTS has its moments in place, but that is not even a patch on the huge canvas of his illustrious filmography.
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
Good Sign!!! If people find it disappointing, I am surely going to love it!!!
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Sulakshana,
I think you did not watch the movie with righ frame of mind. It was supposed to be comedy and how can u expect a ankur/nishant?
I watched it and liked it a lot…it was sensible comedy.
It was lot better than benegal’s own MANDI.
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This is a wonderful film. Perhaps Shyam Benegal’s most entertaining and romantic film to date. Fantastic dialogue, convincing village accent, a great ensemble cast. Do not miss.
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yeah u people thake things to seriously….i agree with pavan. its surely a good sign if u did not like it
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The movie was great..thoroughly enjoyed it..smart and funny and the dialect, locale, rural context was not something i have heard before and was very refreshing
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I am gonna watch it today, i think the reviews have been good too for this movie. But Hulla has not met with the same critical enthusiasm.
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Every single review has praised the film. But when I watched it yesterday, I was taken aback. Except for few intermittent chuckles this is a big bore.
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@ Sulakshana
Do you know rural hindi?
did you see “Malgudi Days”
do you have any experience/idea of living in a remote village?
From your post it seems all the answer will be ‘NO’.
I can feel your disappoinment!
You went to watch an ‘aantelectual’ movie but alas!
This is not “aantelectual” movie!
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The movie was disappointing, yes. But beyond the title of your post Sulakshana, can’t agree with much. How do you call this ’slapstick’ comedy? There was hardly anything slapstick or God forbid- ‘Priyadarshanick’- about the humour. In fact i would give the film credit for even putting across risque dialogue very tastefully. The movie is heavily flawed, but you seem to have expected something too enormous and too different from what the film is supposed to be- a simple, light hearted satirical tale, not an Ankur or a Mandi.
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@Nillohit
“Malgudi Days” is one of my favourites. What got me hooked to MG was completely absent- the simplicity of approach.
@Ravi
I am not comparing with the subject matter of Benegal’s Ankurs and Nishants, I am talking about the style….I would like to repeat,it’s the way Benegal made his film, simple, beautiful and never didactic. I missed that touch of his craft here. WTS has the Benegal touch at some places but all in all it isn’t a patch on what he has done before.
@Jahan
I call it slastick, because I cannot forget those horribly written and mouthed dialogues when Shreyas is trying to be funny. Found them too cliched.
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@Jahan
for satires the execution is supposed to be subtle , not garish and too in-your-face. Therefore WTS doesn’t work for me.
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@Sulakshana: ‘Horribly written’ dialogues do not make a film slapstick. Slapstick is a term used to define comedy that is essentially broad, loud and most importantly- very physical in nature, none of which is true in case of this film. Not that the dialogues were so awful, but then you are entitled to your opinion.
And how can you say that satire ‘has’ to be subtle? Is The Great Dictator ’subtle’ satire? Isn’t it in your face? Not that I’m even remotely comparing this just about above average film to Chaplin’s classic. The problem is you are too hell bent on comparing this to Benegal’s earlier and better work. That way I guess I can view the film in a more non- judgemental light since I haven’t really seen Benegal’s other films. I didn’t like the film either. It’s just that your reasons for disliking the film aren’t really- well, reasonable.
http://passionforcinema.com/sajjanpur/#comment-223629
http://jahansinghbakshi.blogspot.com/2008/09/review-welcome-to-sajjanpur.html
(Sorry for my laziness folks, but have reviewed the film in very brief and uninteresting ‘Buzz 18′ fashion- was too exhausted)
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Check this out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slapstick
“Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated physical violence or activities which exceed the boundaries of common sense, such as a character being hit in the face with a heavy frying pan or running into a brick wall.”
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@Jahan
phew!
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lol ;)
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it’s a good movie. i was apprehensive when i saw benegal’s name in the promos. but it’s really very entertaining. excellent performances and dialogues. definitely a must see!
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I loved the movie … no paralysis by analysis for me, thank you!
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awesome movie,I belong to the place where this movie is supposed to be located. Lemme tell you the language the words, all are in right place and excellent taste, the way things exist are represented. The climax was really not good enough, but it was an excellent flick.
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