When I had read about Shyam Benegal directing a movie with Shreyas Talpade in the lead, it was called Madhav Ka Sajjanpur. And I wonder why the title was anglicized later to Welcome to Sajjanpur when the story is perceived and described through a village erudite called Madhav. And indeed traces of the original title still remain on the censor board certification displayed before the movie starts if you pay attention.
Sajjanpur is an unheard hamlet tucked deep inside North India which has its residents comprising a mo-bike riding ex-sarpanch Ramsingh (Yashpal Sharma) with his henchman keen on getting his wife elected to the village council. A superstitious mausi (Ila Arun) and her amanglik daughter Vindhya (Divya Dutta) who cannot find a suitable match for herself. A flirtatious clinic assistant in the local health centre called Ramkumar (Ravi Kishen) wooing a widow called Shobha (Rajeshwari Sachdev) and numerous other characters. Ravi Jhankal as Munnibai, the eunuch who defeats her nearest rival in the election to become the sarpanch, is worth mentioning for his superb performance.
The educated and learned Madhav performs the job of writing mails for the unlettered blokes from under a banyan tree where he has set up his small office cum observatory – noting the movements of the locals. He’s smitten by Kamla (Amrita Rao) his school chum but now tied in matrimony with a man who has left for Mumbai; helping her to be in constant touch with him by penning her emotions down on a postcard. He swindles the innocent Kamla in an effort to win her loyalty but relents after finding the truth.
For the point, Benegal sticks to his style of bringing the realism through cinema like he has always done through classic movies like Bhumika, Nishant, Ankur, Manthan, etc. This time he prefers to depict societal and cultural problems faced by rural India satirically through comedy. Needless to say that Benegal excels in his storytelling ever so brilliantly. The trauma, the pain and the problems all coated in layers of laughter to bring out an ultimate entertainer that’s Madhav Ka Sajjanpur. Cheers to Shyam Benegal, UTV Spotboy a last request – Please get the original title back!
