heartattack

Widow remarriage, organ transplant racket, corruption, superstition, land acquisition scam, electricity crisis – these are just some of the issues presented in Shyam Benegal’s masterpiece – Welcome to Sajjanpur. In the two and a half hour film (a tad too long, I must confess,) Master Chef Benegal manages to cook so many issues together so seamlessly that you cannot help but marvel at the genius of the man.

With the fortunate exception of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, recent comedies in Hindi cinema (thanks largely to Priyadarshan and Aneez Bazmee) can been essentially equated with a used diaper ( = full of shit.) But Welcome to Sajjanpur brings back sarite, dark comedy to our cinema, long forgotten post another masterpiece – Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron.

Sajjanpur is an important film. It is a film we all should watch because it puts faces to the news we see. We have all heard of the lack of educational qualifications of many of our national leaders, but when we actually see village politicians using thumbprints instead of signatures in Sajjanpur, the gravity of it all is suddenly brought before our eyes.

Similarly, we all hear about superstitious crap like having bad ’stars’ which make girls unfit for marriage. But when we see the beautiful Vindhya being married off to a dog to release her of the bad omen she is destined to bring to her husband, the absurdity of astrology and superstitions is glaringly obvious.

The funny thing about Sajjanpur is that if it were made 30 years ago, baring a couple of references to Shahrukh Khan and a scene with a cellphone, the script could have stayed essentially the same.

Well, I’d request one and all to watch Sajjanpur, I’m sure that you’ll come out of the theater smiling, but once the humor has faded, the film’s darkness will haunt you.

[image courtesy: bollywoodhungama.com]