Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008)

Welcome to Sajjanpur is a movie starring Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao, and Ravi Kishan. 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)
Vineeta Malik	...	Kamala's mother-in-law

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:

INR 55,000,000 (estimated)

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 beginning of the film, the table that Mahadev uses to write letters is covered with newspaper. After he starts talking to the man on the motorcycle, all of sudden, the table is magically covered with a plastic sheet.

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Connections

Features Saajan (1991)

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Soundtracks

Dildara Dildara Sine Mein
Written by Ashok Mishra
Composed by Shantanu Moitra
Performed by Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan
Courtesy of Super Cassettes Industries Limited (T-Series)

User Reviews

Simplicity of Malgudi Days

"Welcome to Sajjanpur" is a revival of times on the lines of Malgudi Days and the flavour of of Hrishikesh Mukhejee & Basu Chatterjee. The fictitious village comprises of characters very humane, easily identifiable and oozing with simplicity (well, not quite!).

The narrative is extremely smooth and carries you with the flow. Shyam Benegal attempts an unexplored territory and once again he proves what a versatile director he is. With "Welcome to Sajjanpur" Shyam Benegal to a certain degree incorporates commercial elements into his style yet retaining the flavour of parallel cinema.

All the characters seem hand-picked as they are perfectly suited to the "T". Every actor gets adequate space as per the demands necessitated by the character. It seemed only Divya Dutta's character/ role was not fleshed out / elaborated (and her participation in the end was kind of coming).

In the times of heavy-weights & escapism cinema, "Welcome to Sajjanpur" manages to command a foothold in its own rights. Don't miss this movie at any costs.