Avinash Patalay "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.

HANSDA SOWVENDRA SHEKHAR ONE OF BENEGAL'S BEST WELCOME TO SAJJANPUR brings caricatures from real life, with anecdotes that would have you either rolling down the aisle or push you into deep thought. It is a mirror of the caste-ridden, male-dominated, superstition-riddled, and employment-less society of north India. The story is set in a fictional village called Sajjanpur. We do not know where this place is exactly, but the characters talk of other nearby places like Gorakhpur, Jaunpur and Satna. Gorakhpur and Jaunpur are well-known places in eastern Uttar Pradesh while Satna is in Madhya Pradesh. So it could be concluded that WELCOME TO SAJJANPUR is a story about nearly the whole of the "Cow-Belt of India", that is, the underdeveloped states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, which are, as mentioned above, caste-ridden, male-dominated, superstition-riddled, and employment-less.The main character is a young man called Mahadev Kushwaha (Shreyas Talpade) who is one of the few literate people in this village. Mahadev wants to become a novelist but finds himself working as the letter-writer and letter-reader of the illiterate folk of the village. As his name suggests, he is a Kurmi by caste. His childhood sweetheart Kamla (Amrita Rao), who belongs to the potter caste, is married for four years and comes to him to get letters written to her husband Bansi who is a migrant labourer in Mumbai. Through Kamla's letters to Bansi and Bansi's letters to Kamla we catch a glimpse of the lives of migrant labourers from India's underdeveloped working in India's metros.Other characters include a rich Rajput, Ram Singh (Yashpal Sharma) who is hell-bent on making his wife Jamuna – who is wanted for murdering the girl her son had tried to rape – and through this anecdote we are told about the increasing clout of criminals in India's political system. Ram Singh moves around the entire village on a big motorcycle – a black Bajaj Pulsar – with a gun-toting elderly uncle on the pillion. In Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh it is quite common to see such "rich and powerful" people roaming around in big motorcycles and SUVs with fully armed bodyguards. There is a eunuch Munnibai (Ravi Jhankal) who contests against Ram Singh's wife to oppose the candidature of a criminal. A perennially nervous elderly aunt Ramsakhi (Ila Arun) is worried about her born-on-a-Saturday (and hence unlucky) daughter Bindiya (Divya Dutta) and in order to bring her good luck wishes to marry her off to a dog first as advised by shamans and astrologers. The problem? The dog, too, has to be born on a Saturday and has to have half his tail black and the other half white. The fact that her daughter is educated, has a job and rides a two-wheeler does not make any difference to her. Finally, there are the lovebirds. Ram Kumar (Ravi Kishen) dares to fall in love with a widow, Shobha (Rajeshwari Sachdev), and marries her. They are later killed for defying the norms of the society. There is also a street play anecdote in the film where the villagers are shown to oppose the building of a factory in their village. Mahadev, who wrote the play, is accused of having a revolutionary intention and he is scared on being accused so. Armed rebellions have become common in northern India and villagers are often rounded up by the police for supporting the rebels. The Street Play anecdote and Mahadev's fear, perhaps, underline this very reality.With true-to-life characters and incidents brought alive on the screen by a celebrated filmmaker and his bunch of well-chosen actors, WELCOME TO SAJJANPUR is a delightful film which, I believe, serves its purpose well. That is, presenting a slice of life in northern India. It is hard to pick out any one actor as the best for all of them are so good. But I personally loved Amrita Rao's transition from a Bollywood girl to a veiled village woman who dreams of going to her husband who she has not seen for four years. She suits this role. This is the third time after 'Ishq Vishq' and 'Vivah' that I liked Amrita's work. Ravi Kishen's lover boy role is very touching. He loves this widow but does not know how to tell her and he ends up in so many humorous circumstances because of it. And I liked Ila Arun and Divya Dutta. Arun, as the screaming, fussy mother and Dutta, as her motor-mouth, opinionated daughter, will surely have the viewers falling out of their seats.WELCOME TO SAJJANPUR is a very good movie. Its only drawback are its songs. There are not too many songs but the thing is they are not good and they are placed at the wrong times. Only one song – "Sitaram Sitaram", which works as the theme song – is worth hearing. WELCOME TO SAJJANPUR is not the usual Bollywood fare so director Shyam Benegal could have done away with the songs, they just slacken the pace of an otherwise well-paced movie. Everything else is perfect. The sets are really rural. The clothes, the mannerisms, everything. Though quite mainstream, WELCOME TO SAJJANPUR is one of the best from Shyam Benegal.My rating: 9/10.

iltaf-kiani I was also born in a small village like sajjanpur.I usually do not watch many bollywood films but this film is most beautiful and realistic film I have ever watched.It is nicely directed by Shyam Benegal and all the actors and actresses have played nicely specially Shreyas Talpade and Amrita Rao. Shryeas Talpade is a very talented actor. I would also like to mentioned the music of this film which is melodious! it is really great. Conclusion: This is a very nice film and is worthwhile watching I will give 9 out of 10 for this film and wish that bollywood could make more film like this in future.

Rohith H S Welcome to Sajjanpur is from one of the India's most experienced director Shyam Benegal. In times where people go to see well advertised movies, world of glamor and glitz here is a movie which challenges the Bollywood trend of running behind Khans, Roshans, Bachans and heavy budgets. What's distinctive about this movie is simple story telling, exceptional direction, and a team of actors who have lived their character. With a simple village theme the movie talks about a failed novel writer who changes the lives of many characters simply by writing letters on their behalf. He also realizes some of his mistakes and overcomes them. The movie always makes you wonder what's going to happen next. Hindi movie industry would need more movies like this to breed good directors, actors. The movie also light heartedly criticizes Indian politics; it creates some unbelievable twists to the story. The movie is full of fun, energy, simplicity and twist. I would give 10 out of 10 for this movie.