Welcome To Sajjanpur Is Disappointing

Is it too much to ask for if we expect something better than a slapstick comedy that has gone horribly wrong, which does not give you undiluted entertainment but annoys you to the core from a man who is the harbinger of the middle cinema in India. I refuse to believe that Welcome To Sajjanpur is a film by Shyam Benegal; I mean throughout the odd 120 minutes or so the same feeling would haunt you if you’ve seen the Ankurs and Nishants and Mandis and Suraj Ka Satwa Ghodas and Junoons…. (I can go on and on and on) that amazed us, shocked us, and entertained us in a manner that only stark reality can. Yes, it was very difficult to distinguish between his films and reality and the way he kept the viewer engrossed from the word ‘go’ was disappointingly absent in WTS. You have bits and pieces of cinematic moments strewn here and there where the Shyam Benegal I knew was lurking, but just a few moments do not make a great film. I do not know, till what extent did he want to push us in a bid to test our patience, half-hearted performances, corny dialogues, OTT meaningless song-and-dance routines, I mean what was he thinking. After the screening I felt so angry, so sad………. sad to see the Art of Shyam Benegal shamelessly commoditized.
Throughout the first half you feel that it has been ghost directed by Priyadarshan, and when I say Priyadarshan I do not mean Hera Pheri, it can be a Malaamal Weekly or Bhagam Bhag. One-liners pretending to be witty, garish didaction of the narrative appear fake and clichéd to say the least. Any dream sequence has the liberty to show absolutely anything under the sun, but the song in question only cater to the annoyance , and I am NOT talking about the dheere dheere track rendition by KK, that song is pretty decent compared to the others. Speaking of the soundtrack, the background score is highly reminiscent of Lage Raho Munnabhai(the prelude of the pal pal track is used here) and one wonders whatever had happened to the deadly duo of Shantanu Moitra and Swanand Kirkire . Ravi Kishen is annoying, Shreyas Talpade is decent in some scenes but too dramatic in most (his diction sounds so damn fake), ditto for Amrita Rao but she is arguably better, but full marks to Yashpal Sharma, Ravi Jhankal and Ila Arun. Divya Dutt, Rajeshwari Sachdev, and Rajit Kapur are a total waste.
The reference to the Nandigram episode, the deliberation in showing a eunuch as the one practicing democracy in politics (the irony lies when Shreyas remarks” Ramji ne kahaan tha , Kalyug mein toh hijro ka raj chalega”), et al are the few places where you find the mise-en-scene plausible. But all in all these few refreshing breeze of air do not have the requisite potential of the gusty wind that would set the ship of Benegal’s cinema sailing. It’s only when you arrive at the climax that you get the taste of pathos, magnificently executed by the master, a thing that is his signature stroke.
The man, who can boast of the most prestigious awards and titles in Indian Cinema standing on his living room mantelpiece, cannot come out with such a pathetic film. True that WTS has its moments in place, but that is not even a patch on the huge canvas of his illustrious filmography.