Start the week with a film: ‘Welcome to Sajjanpur’ is a timeless political satire
Shyam Benegal’s Hindi comedy can be rented from Prime Video.
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Welcome to Sajjanpur appears to be a departure for director Shyam Benegal – but only if you weren’t closely watching.
Tucked into Benegal’s thought-provoking, socially conscious filmography is the rambunctious comedy Mandi (1983) and the meta-narrative Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda (1992). Both types of storytelling are present in his satire Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008).
The Hindi film can be rented from Prime Video. To Welcome to Sajjanpur can be traced the line that inspired the name of the comedy group Aisi Taisi Democracy (with democracy pronounced to rhyme with aisi-taisi, or any which way). Ashok Mishra’s brilliant script updates Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein (1977) to examine the seriocomic goings-on in a village that is a microcosm of India.
Despite having undergone a name change from Durjanpur to Sajjanpur, the village is packed with unscrupulous types, starting with Mahadev (Shreyas Talpade). Although Mahadev wants to be a novelist, he is stuck with writing letters on behalf of Sajjanpurians. He does so with reluctance or, depending on the circumstances, perverse relish.
Mahadev’s lust for Kamla (Amrita Rao) compels him to doctor the loving messages she sends her husband in Mumbai. Mahadev also plays messenger between Ramkumar (Ravi Kishan) and the child widow...
