| Welcome to Sajjanpur | |
| Director: | Shyam Benegal |
| Producer: | Ronnie Screwvala Chetan Motiwalla |
| Story: | Shyam Benegal |
| Based On: | Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein (1977 film) |
| Starring: | Shreyas Talpade Amrita Rao Kunal Kapoor Ravi Kishan Ravi Jhankal |
| Music: | Shantanu Moitra |
| Cinematography: | Rajan Kothari |
| Editing: | Aseem Sinha |
| Studio: | IX Faces Pictures UTV Spotboy Bindass |
| Distributor: | UTV Motion Pictures |
| Runtime: | 134 mins |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Hindi |
Welcome to Sajjanpur is a 2008 Indian Hindi comedy film directed by Shyam Benegal and starring Shreyas Talpade and Amrita Rao.
Mahadev (Shreyas Talpade) is an unemployed graduate with a Bachelor of Arts from Satna college who lives with his mother, is forced to make a living writing letters for the uneducated people of his village. His real ambition is to become a novel writer. Through his humble occupation, Mahadev has the potential to impact numerous lives. The movie is a satirical, but warm-hearted portrait of life in rural India. He realizes this passion when an aunt of his wants him to write a letter to her son who has treated his mother with disrespect and the letter seemed to have worked. This made her aunt tell the villagers what an amazing writer he truly was. Initially the village folk would come to his home to get their letters written but his mother did not approve of it so he decided to set up a small work space near the post office.
Among Mahadev's customers are:
Mahadev manages to get his friend engaged, police protection for Munni, and almost kisses Kamla before they are interrupted. However Munni is killed after winning the election by the opposition, and he learns a shocking truth about Kamla's husband who used to sell his blood so he could earn a reasonable amount of money. It soon turns out that the story was a fictional novel written by the real Mahadev, but it is mostly based on his own experiences. Though it turns out that some of the villagers didn't exactly have happy endings, Mahadev sorts out his mistakes and accomplishes his long-held dream of writing a novel.
As Mahadev, under pseudo name Sukhdev, reveals that Munnibai became a successful politician, becoming an MLA, or a Member of the State Legislature, with high connections and powerful people surrounding her. It is also revealed that Kamla and Bansi are happy in small house in Mumbai, who come to visit Sajjanpur every Diwali. In midst of all these good news, Mahadev notes that Ram Kumar and Shobha Rani were lynched because members of their community opposed a widow getting remarried. Mahadev also notes that he married the ill-starred Vindhya after wooing her by writing 40 letters. While most people consider an ill-starred person to be a great misfortune, Mahadev notes that he became successful due to his marriage, as he paid down his farm land mortgage, built a wonderful house and realised his dream of writing a novel.
Music of the film is by Shantanu Moitra. The music was released on 5 September 2008.,[1] there are a total of seven songs in the soundtrack including one remix.
Upon its release, the film received positive reviews and became a sleeper hit at the box office. An Indiatimes review said, "Shyam Benegal has always been accredited as a mesmerizing storyteller known for making 'meaningful' cinema. This time he also caters to commercial consumers, coming up with his most 'entertaining' attempt, by far."[2]
Khalid Mohamed of Hindustan Times gave the film a 3 out of 5 stars, and stated "Sajjanpur is different, it has a conscience, and merits a ticket from those who have one too".[3] Times of India gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and stated, "It's simple, uncomplicated storytelling leaves a smile on your face". The Economic Times stated, "Shyam Benegal has always been accredited as a mesmerizing storyteller known for making 'meaningful' cinema. This time he also caters to commercial consumers, coming up with his most 'entertaining' attempt, by far".[4]