Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008)

An educated man spends his days writing letters for the varied inhabitants of his small, poor, and illiterate village, in this political and social satire.

Director:

Shyam Benegal

Writers:

Ashok Mishra (screenplay and dialogue), Shyam Benegal (story)

Stars:

Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao, Ravi Kishan

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shreyas Talpade	...	Mahadev
Amrita Rao	...	Kamala
Ravi Kishan	...	Ramkumar
Ila Arun	...	Ramsakhi Pannawali
Rajeshwari Sachdev	...	Shobharani (as Rajeshwari Sachdev Badola)
Divya Dutta	...	Vindhya
Yashpal Sharma	...	Ramsingh
Ravi Jhankal	...	Munnibai Mukhanni
Lalit Mohan Tiwari	...	Subedar Singh
Shri Vallabh Vyas	...	Ramavtar (as Vallabh Vyas)
Masood Akhtar	...	Postman
Daya Shankar Pandey	...	Chidamiram Sapera (as Dayasankar Paandey)
Satish Sharma	...	Publisher
Mangala Kenkre	...	Mahadev's mother (as Mangal Kenkre)
Vinita Malik	...	Kamala's mother-in-law (as Vineeta Malik)

Storyline

It was Jawaharlal Nehru who changed the name of a small town, Durjanpur, to Sajjanpur, and that was about all the change that had occurred there since then. The town still lacks adequate infrastructure, no safe drinking water; in a 24 hour period, electricity is out for almost 23 hours, and most people, even though they own mobile phones, cannot speak or write English. One of the residents, who does speak and write English fluently, Mahadev Kuswah, lives with his mother, and both run a small fresh vegetable store after his dad abandoned them when he was very young. He has since obtained a degree from Satna University, and assists residents with written correspondence for a fee. Amongst his clients are Man Singh - who wants his homicidal wife to stand for the Municipal elections; a eunuch, Munnibai Mukhrani, who also to stands for elections; a snake charmer who is trying to make a living with fake snakes and is trying to locate his father; Ram Kumar, who is in love with a widow, Shobha...

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Plot Keywords:

election | eunuch | dog | widow | village | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

19 September 2008 (India)

Also Known As:

Mahadev Ka Sajjanpur

Filming Locations:

India

Box Office

Budget:

INR55,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,301,431

Company Credits

Production Co:

IX Faces Pictures, UTV Bindass, UTV Spotboy Motion Pictures

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Original title of the film was "Mahadev Ka Sajjanpur".

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Goofs

At the very beginning, Mahadev is seen as brushing his teeth. Yet he was clean-shaven, a bit too clean-shaven for the time of the day and the village locale. He appears so, during most of the movie.

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Connections

Features Saajan (1991)

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Soundtracks

Ek Meetha Marz De Ke
Written by Swanand Kirkire
Composed by Shantanu Moitra
Performed by Madhushree and Mohit Chauhan
Courtesy of Super Cassettes Industries Limited (T-Series)

User Reviews

A Good Satirical Comedy.

This is a rather surprising satirical comedy from a director, cousin of the late and legendary Guru Dutt, who has normally directed classic movies such as "Zubeida" and "Junoon."

Mahadev, one of the few educated men, lives in the village of Sajjanpur, which he claims was originally named Doorjanpur until the late Jawaharlal Nehru makes a visit and orders it to be renamed "Sajjanpur." He makes his living by writing songs an stories but the real bread winner is writing letters for the illiterate members of the village, of which one is Kamla, the girl who once, at school gets him into trouble but who he likes.

Starring Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao, Divya Dutta, Yashpal Sharma, Rajeshwari Sachdeva, Ila Arun and Ravi Kishan. This is directed by Shyam Benegal and written by Shyam Benegal and Ashok Mishra.

Shryeas Talpade has proved his talent as an actor who played the role of Shah Rukh Khan's friend in "Om Shanti Om" last year to this one while Amrita Rao has proved that she can play the role of a young girl in love to a matured one living in a village. Divya Dutta just excels in her role herewith a rather surprising impact and there's not much need to say much about her talent as she has shown it before in movies such as "Veer – Zaara."

Conclusion: This is a good satirical comedy and is worthwhile watching. However, if one does not like to watch films that are located in a village, then it may not appeal to them and the same goes for those who do not enjoy such comedy genres.