Welcome to Sajjanpur

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Welcome to Sajjanpur
File:Mahadevkasajjanpur.jpg
Movie Poster for Welcome to Sajjanpur
Directed by Shyam Benegal
Produced by Ronnie Screwvala
Chetan Motiwalla
Written by Shyam Benegal
Ashok Mishra
Starring Shreyas Talpade
Amrita Rao
Kunal Kapoor
Ravi Kishan
Ravi Jhankal
Music by Shantanu Moitra
Cinematography Rajan Kothari
Edited by Aseem Sinha
Production
company
Distributed by UTV Spotboy Motion Pictures
Release dates
 19 September 2008
Running time
 134 mins
Country India
Language Hindi
Budget ₹1.6 million (US$24,000)
Box office ₹20 million (US$300,000)

Welcome to Sajjanpur is a 2008 Hindi comedy film directed by Shyam Benegal and starring Shreyas Talpade and Amrita Rao in the lead roles. The film is by noted Parallel cinema director, Shyam Benegal, marking his return to comedy after filming Charandas Chor (1975). Even though Benegal is responsible for other films in the parallel cinema genre, this film was one of his mainstream Bollywood films. It was a remake of the 1977 film Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein.

Plot

Mahadev (Shreyas Talpade) is an unemployed graduate with a Bachelor of Arts from Satna college, who is forced to make a living writing letters for the uneducated people of his village. His real ambition is to become a novel writer. Through his humble occupation, Mahadev has the potential to impact numerous lives. The movie is a satirical, but warm-hearted portrait of life in rural India.

Among Mahadev's customers are:

  • Mahadev's childhood crush Kamla (Amrita Rao) is desperate for communication from her husband Bansi Ram (Kunal Kapoor), who works as a labourer at a dockyard in Mumbai. In the letters to her husband, a jealous Mahadev writes the opposite of the loving messages Kamla wants to convey, while faking what her husband has written to her.
  • A hurried mother (Ila Arun) who wants to get her manglik daughter, Vindhya (Divya Dutta) married.
  • A landlord whose wife is a candidate for the village Sarpanch, and who wants all her political rivals eliminated from the race.
  • A eunuch Munni who is contesting the elections for the village Sarpanch but fears the threats from the landlord.
  • A love-lorn compounder, Ram Kumar (Ravi Kishan), who is crazy about the widowed daughter-in-law Shobha Rani (Rajeshwari Sachdev) of a retired army soldier.

Mahadev manages to get his friend engaged, police protection for Munni, and almost kisses Kamla before they are interrupted. However Munni is seriously injured in the head, and he learns a shocking truth about Kamla's husband.It soon turns out that the story was a fictional novel written by the real Mahadev, but it is mostly based on his own experiences. Though it turns out that some of the villagers didn't exactly have happy endings, Mahadev sorts out his mistakes and accomplishes his long-held dream of writing a novel.

As Mahadev, under pseudo name Sukhdev, reveals that Munnibai became a successful politician, becoming an MLA, or a Member of the State Legislature, with high connections and powerful people surrounding her. It is also revealed that Kamla and Bansi are happy in small house in Mumbai, who come to visit Sajjanpur every Diwali. In midst of all these good news, Mahadev notes that Ram Kumar and Shobha Rani were lynched because members of their community opposed a widow getting re-married. Mahadev also notes that he got married to Vindhya, the manglik, after wooing her by writing 40 letters. While most people consider a manglik to be a great misfortune, Mahadev notes that he became successful due to his marriage, as he paid down his farm land mortgage, built a wonderful house and realised his dream of writing a novel.

Cast

Soundtrack

Music of the film is by Shantanu Moitra. The music was released on 5 September 2008.,[1] there are a total of seven songs in the soundtrack including one remix.

Reception

Upon its release, an Indiatimes review said, "Shyam Benegal has always been accredited as a mesmerizing storyteller known for making 'meaningful' cinema. This time he also caters to commercial consumers, coming up with his most 'entertaining' attempt, by far."[2]

Awards and Nominations

References

  1. ↑ Welcome to Sajjanpur Songs Listing
  2. ↑ Welcome to Sajjanpur - Review The Times of India, 19 September 2008.

External links

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