Plot
Mahadev (Shreyas Talpade) is an unemployed graduate with a Bachelor of Arts from Satna College who lives with his mother and 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's childhood crush and second grade classmate Kamla, who eventually became a school dropout because of her seizures (Amrita Rao), is desperate for communication from her husband Bansi Ram (Kunal Kapoor), who works as a labourer at a dockyard in Mumbai. In the letters to her husband, a jealous Mahadev writes the opposite of the loving messages Kamla wants to convey while faking what her husband has written to her.
- A hurried mother (Ila Arun) who wants to get her ill-starred daughter, Vindhya (Divya Dutta), married.
- A landlord whose wife is a candidate for the village of Sarpanch and who wants all her political rivals eliminated from the race.
- A transgender woman, Munni, is contesting the elections for the village of Sarpanch but fears the threats from the landlord.
- A lovelorn compounder, Ram Kumar (Ravi Kishan), who is crazy about the widowed daughter-in-law, Shobha Rani (Rajeshwari Sachdev), of a retired army soldier.
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.
Mahadev, under the pseudonym Sukhdev, reveals that Munnibai became a successful politician, becoming an MLA, or Member of the State Legislature, with high connections and powerful people surrounding her. It is also revealed that Kamla and Bansi are happy in a small house in Mumbai and come to visit Sajjanpur every Diwali. Amid all this 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 farmland mortgage, built a wonderful house, and realised his dream of writing a novel.
Reception
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". [4] 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". [5]
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