Film evokes mixed emotions in Lucknow!
The comedy drama Gulabo Sitabo directed by Shoojit Sircar and written by Juhi Chaturvedi is set in old Lucknow with Amitabh Bachchan (Chunnan ‘Mirza’ Nawab), Farrukh Jafar (Fatima Begum) and Ayushmann Khurrana (Bankey) as the lead cast. Mirza as the greedy and miserly old man eyes his older Begum’s run-down mansion occupied by tenants like Bankey.
There is on-going nagging between Mirza and Bankey whenever their paths cross. Mirza hopelessly waits for the Begum’s death, so the haveli becomes his property. The government archaeologist jumps in to acquire the heritage property. Bankey supports him with the hope of getting a compensatory accommodation. Mirza hires a lawyer to get the A still from ‘Gulabo Sitabo’ haveli transferred in his name after the Begum dies.
Mirza also readies to make money by selling the property to a builder. However, the Begum plays a spoilsport as she plans to divorce Mirza and elopes with her former lover and returns to the mansion to celebrate her birthday. Mirza and Bankey face the nasty surprise as their lives become gloomier.
The director did not comprehend Lucknow’s cultural ethos except a superficial idea about verbosity and visual imagery. It reinforces it as a city of idiosyncratic people living in dilapidated heritage homes. Begum’s performance was credible but one had higher expectations from Bachchan beyond his transformed appearance. Shantanu Moitra’s music had Bengal’s fragrance but Urdu lyrics with music forms like ghazal and thumri would have been apt.
The quirky script and screenplay were weak. Film’s pace was slow and patchy. Even Gulabo-Sitabo puppetry’s reference looked forced. The saving grace was that its was shot in Lucknow with Mahmudabad House as the haveli. However, the film gets full marks for doing good to
Lucknow’s economy and providing opportunities to local talent.
Some citizens of Lucknow loved it as a realistic portrayal of old people holding on to their neglected period homes with property sharks ruling the roost. In any case, the film has brought Lucknow centre stage amongst audiences worldwide like Satyajit Ray’s ‘Shatranj Ke Khilari’, Shyam Benegal’s ‘Junoon’ or Muzaffar Ali’s ‘Umrao Jaan’. Sadly, however, it lacks the class of these masterpieces. Despite some bright sparks, one feels a sense of loss, a brilliant opportunity wasted!