Shyam Benegal back with a comedy after years

A scene from Welcome to Sajjanpur. and Shyam Benegal

At 73, the veteran director Shyam Benegal is one of the most enthusiastic people around. His new film, Welcome To Sajjanpur is ready for release, and the director clearly loves talking about it.
After Mandi, this will be your second comedy. What is the film about?
This is not my second comedy but the third. First, there was Charandas Chor (1974), then Mandi (1982) and now, Welcome to Sajjanpur. I am doing a comedy after a long time. There has been comic situations in most of my films but this is the first film where I have comedy all the way. It's a romantic comedy, so that's a nice combination. It also has satire. It has politics and many sub-angles.
Welcome to Sajjanpur is a story set in today's Indian village. A village, which is remote but not isolated. It is connected by way of cell phones and television.
But the remoteness is emphasised because of the low level of literacy, like in most parts of India. So the educated people in that village can make a living as a letter-writer.
This is the basis of the story as well as the comedy in the film.
Are you making a conscious effort to make a commercial movie?
I always thought my films were commercial. They were parallel cinema but that doesn't mean it was not meant for all kinds of ticket-buying audiences.
But it had a fixed audience...
Not necessarily. Zubeida had larger audience. Mamo eventually had a larger audience; even Kalyug had a very good audience. We tend to pigeonhole and miss the good stuff. I think it is a mistake by separating commercial cinema and saying this is parallel cinema.
In fact, they are meant to be commercial, how else will they cover the costs?
How was it working with Shreyas Talpade?
Working with Shreyas was lot of fun. He seemed the right choice when we were casting because of his looks and body language. All these things were absolutely right to play the central role of Mahadev.
After watching Iqbal, I thought this is an actor whom I must take in a film. He is very persuasive and convincing.
What are your 10 favourite movies?
It is very difficult to say because it needs a lot of thinking. There are many more than 10. I can name a few films like De Sica's Bicycle Thieves, Chaplin's Gold Rush, Felini's Eight and Half, Edmund Bergman's Staney and Alexander.
Among Indian films -- Pather Panchali, Mother India, Sant Tukaram and Ram Shastri.
What would be the 10 best performances in your films?
The actors whose work have been fully realised in my films are Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Amrish Puri and Kulbhushan Kharbanda. Shashi Kapoor's performances in Kalyug and Junoon were exceptionally good.
Among the actresses, certainly Shabana (Azmi), Smita (Patil), Illa Arun Rajeshwari, Pallavi Joshi, Neena Gupta, and Divya Dutta in recent years.
Who among the current lot of directors impresses you the most?
Rituparno Ghosh. He has made a couple of films that I liked very much. Then, there is Mani Ratnam, Ram Gopa Varma and Aparna Sen. My most favourite Indian film director is Adoor Gopalkrishnan.
Among the people who passed away, it would be Satyajit Ray and Rithwick Ghatak.
You will be 74 this December. What keeps you ticking?
Work and films.
Compiled by Cultural Correspondent