Meet the rustics!
ANUJ KUMAR
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Shreyas Talpade and Amrita Rao have managed what many stars aspire to, a film with Shyam Benegal. Welcome to Sajjanpur releases today
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HEART OF INDIA The film is set in an idyllic village, very much like Malgudi Days
He is the latest to bridge the actor-hero divide. Shreyas Talpade is not your regular star who walks with a halo or thrives on controversies. He prefers slipping into characters and let the real Shreyas take a backseat. The Marathi actor greets you w
ith Kaisen Ho Bhaiya for this is the dialect that he speaks in Shyam Benegal’s “Welcome to Sajjanpur”.
“The film is set in an idyllic village, very much like ‘Malgudi Days’. The characters speak Hindi with a Baghelkhandi flavour. Mahadev, the central character, is among few literates in the village. He has this amazing ability to write persuasive letters. He doesn’t do it for social service. He has his own interests. He uses his talent to manipulate people, which results in amusing and at times, not so amusing situations.”
Will all this strike a chord with the laptop generation? “This is exactly what I asked Shyam babu. And he said this generation needs to look beyond the metros. Sajjanpur is not really fictitious. It represents many villages in the heart of India where mobile phones have reached but the basic infrastructure is still missing.”
Sarcastic tone
The film apparently has a sarcastic tone, and Shreyas promises nothing is preachy. “I feel now the audience is no longer concerned what the actor is wearing, as long as it identifies with the character.” Shreyas was Benegal’s first choice for the film. After “Iqbal” and “Dor”, Shreyas came to be known as Nagesh Kukunoor’s blue-eyed boy. “These days Akshay Kumar and John Abraham are his boys,” he quips. “There is no wedge. Nagesh has promised me to call whenever a role demands me,” he clarifies. Shreyas doesn’t consider doing “Om Shanti Om” as a compromise to reach out to a larger audience. “I was convinced about the role. I am a performer. I have not set out to do only intellectual cinema, or say, one kind of films. I do an ‘Apna Sapna Money Money’ with as much conviction as ‘Iqbal’.” He reels out the names of his future films, “Golmaal Returns” and “Paying Guest”, to underline his point.
Shreyas doesn’t have any film background. His father runs a business and his mother is an income tax inspector. “My wife is a clinical psychologist.” Does she help him in understanding characters? “No, she just keeps my mental status in check,” he signs off.
She is the quintessential girl next door. And Amrita Rao doesn’t mind the tag. “Thank God I have a positive image. I am one of those girls living next door, who have a sense of humour and who nobody can look through! Recently I was shooti
ng in Jodhpur and the girls called me Poonam, the character I played in ‘Vivaah’. It is the ultimate honour for an actor. However, performing similar roles at times do get boring.” For now in “Welcome To Sajjanpur” it is time to consolidate on the image. “I am playing Kamla, a complete village bumpkin, who doesn’t know there is a world beyond Sajjanpur. She is the love interest of Mahadev.”
The coveted link
Few know that both Amrita and Shyam Benegal come from the same region of Karnataka. “Yes, we are Saraswat Brahmins who speak Konkani. Anant Nag and Girish Karnad also belong to the same community. While growing up every child in that area is told about their contribution to theatre and cinema. So when I got a call from Shyam babu’s office, I felt elated but at the same time felt the pressure of being his lead actress. I was expected to match Shabana Azmi, Rekha and Smita Patil. The workshops and reading eased out the pressure. He has an innate sense of humour.” There Shreyas’ exemplary command on Baghelkhandi twang surprised her. “He made me cry in “Iqbal”, and here he was so hilarious. I rushed to Ashok Mishra, the dialogue coach, to get my accent right,” Amrita fondly recalls. “The village was created in Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. After ‘Lagaan’, it is the first time that people will get to see village life so closely on screen. Right from post box to ghar ka aangan has been recreated but looks real.” So is the ensemble cast, which includes Ravi Kissen, Divya Dutta and Benegal’s favourite Rajeshwari.
As a young Indian, she feels proud to be part of a film, which talks about real people and real life. “While watching the film you will laugh your guts out but once out of theatre you will realise that it is a comment on the flawed development in parts of this country. Shyam Babu has been doing it for years; it is only the audience who has woken from the slumber now.”
As for the tag, which at times gets boring, Amrita says, “Just watch out for the promos of ‘Shortcut’!”
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