Director: Shoojit Sircar
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann Khurrana
The writer-director duo of Juhi Chaturvedi and Shoojit Sircar is back with their latest offering Gulabo Sitabo, a film that’s had it’s release directly on the OTT platform Amazon Prime.
In the opening scenes, we witness a roadside pantomime show involving the puppet characters Gulabo and Sitabo, two women always at odds with one another, constantly arguing about matters. This sets the tone for the reveal of the film’s two analogous human protagonists, the seventies something Mirza (Amitabh Bachchan) and his young tenant Baankey (Ayushmann Khurrana). The invisible thread that connects them and controls their actions: avarice.
This is not your typical ‘evil landlord-helpless tenant’ story. While it is apparent from the first shot (where we see Mirza stealing Baankey’s light bulb), that Mirza is an unpleasant, greedy man beyond repair, Baankey has his own shortcomings too. The rent he pays is a pittance. He doesn’t pay up regularly either, but doesn’t shy away from splurging on accessories like microwave ovens. He has his own set of amoral shades that rear their heads time and again.
In fact, the story of Gulabo Sitabo revolves around the greed of various characters who desire a piece of something that doesn’t really belong to them. Mirza for instance collects all the rent for the premises, but isn’t even the real owner. The property in question here is ‘Fatima Mahal’, an old dilapidated Haveli in the heart of Lucknow and the real owner of this place is Mirza’s better half, Begum Fatima (the rollicking Farrukh Jafar), who has inherited it from her once noble ancestors. Unlike Mirza or other tenants like Baankey, she still exudes an air of aristocracy about her. She is aged and money is in short supply, but this doesn’t stop her from being charming and sharp. Mirza lives on the ground floor whereas Begum lives above him, in her own apartment on the first floor. In her mind, there is no question of who really is in control.
Mirza admits to have married Begum with one eye on the Haveli. He can’t wait for her to breathe her last, so that he could inherit it and have his name embossed on the title deeds (see the contrast here, in Sircar’s earlier film October, the protagonist prays for his ICU-ridden lover to somehow escape from the clutches of death)! He goes about the cynical exercise of preparing for her demise, while she is still alive. He doesn’t want any hiccups later, so he even hires a lawyer and begins the transfer formalities.
On his part, Baankey too smells an opportunity here. He connects with Gyanesh, an officer from the archaeological department (Vijay Raaz), who has an agenda of his own and wants to get the Haveli listed as a heritage site. This would mean the eviction of all the Haveli occupants, but also provision of Government housing to Baankey and the other tenants with vastly improved facilities, when compared to the crumbling Haveli. This promise fuels this collusion but an unsuspecting Baankey has little idea about Gyanesh’s real sinister designs.
Of all the sub plots, I found Gyanesh’s to be the most impressive. There is more to it than what initially meets the eye and ends with stinging commentary on serious social issues, like access to housing and rampant abuse of political power and corruption. I found this level of depth missing in the other sub plots though. Right from the time we meet the characters of Mirza or Baankey, there is an air of predictability about them, and their dialogues and scenes start becoming a bit too familiar and procedural after a point. Instead of having them go through the motions, I would have loved for them to be tested more and put in challenging and interesting situations. As it is, their characters feel a little one-dimensional. In fact, Baankey’s sister’s character Guddo, played brilliantly by Srishti Shrivastava had this nailed much better, I thought. I felt the treatment overall could have used a little bit more in terms of creativity and inventiveness, especially given the two plus hours of run time of the film.
Having said this, the final stretch of the film is a riot. Everything revolves around Begum’s character here and there are a couple of superb twists. I especially loved this shot, where Begum nonchalantly exits from the Haveli in a luxurious new car after a party, paying no attention to the totally defeated Mirza and Baankey, standing meekly by the wayside and cursing their luck!
Gulabo Sitabo is a film that starts and ends really well. Though a little clunky in parts, and longer by about twenty minutes than it should have been, it does manage to convey its intended message about avarice and rapaciousness quite effectively. At the end of the film, the time-tested Fatima Mahal still stands, but Gulabo and Sitabo have been discarded out.
Rating: 2.5/5
