Gulabo Sitabo review: A lovely little film by Shoojit Sircar

A still from Gulabo Sitabo (Image courtesy: Amazon Prime Video)

The announcement struck many different nerves. Who releases movies ‘direct’ to a streaming service?! The theatre owners got into a tizzy, fearful of what they might do for survival. The multiplex audience got snarky about how they wouldn’t have to pay two hundred rupees for popcorn.

Small theatre owners, already making do by showing regional films began seeing the streaming services as a bigger enemy than before.

Is this the new ‘Direct to Video’, some wondered. Subscribers like me cheered, hoping one day both Netflix and Amazon would now spend money on fixing the algorithm that offers search results so bizarre you threaten your computer, ‘I’m going to stop this subscription!’ For me, the greed of having ‘Prime’ means no waiting for books…

This greed has become the subject of a lovely little film by Shoojit Sarkar called Gulabo Sitabo.

A story of an irascible landlord wanting to evict his suspicious long time tenants, Gulabo Sitabo has been brought to life by the writing of Juhi Chaturvedi. It shows off her superior writing skills and throws us head first into this multi-cultural milieu of old time Lucknow.

The greatest strengths of the film are not Amitabh Bachchan (and his greedy schnozz) or Ayushmann Khurrana (and his totes adorbs lisp) as protagonists, but the language.

Here is an example:

The inimitable Vijay Raaz who plays Gyanesh Shukla is perched precariously up on a tree taking pictures of the haveli. Ayushmann asks, ‘What are you doing up there?’ Vijay Raaz who plays an ASI officer answers, ‘Halua bana raha hoon’.

The conversation that follows gets funnier simply because of the deadpan delivery of the dialog. It’s the attitude, and the writer, the director as well as the actors get it just right.

‘Kaun ho be tum? Vakeel ho? Pulis ho? Army ho?’

‘Archeology hain’

‘Hain?’

‘Puratatv wale, aur tum ghonchu ho yeh tumhari shakal pe likha hai…’

So the story. The crotchety old landlord wants his long time tenants to pay more, but the condition of the old haveli and the poor tenants make it a tough ask.

So Mirza, the landlord (Amitabh Bachchan with a great big nose) begins doing things to irritate the tenants, one Baankey in particular. Ayushmann Khurrana plays Baankey who lives in the old haveli with his three sisters and a mother, making ends meet by running a flour mill.

Mirza wants the haveli to himself, he’s waiting to evict the tenants. The tenants are poor so they think the ASI agent will help them get small homes when the government takes over.

The landlord's lawyer (Brijesh Kala shines as Christopher Clarke) has other motives. Baankey’s sister Guddo (the oldest of the three, played with sass by Shristhi Shrivastava) is not exactly a shining example of purity.

The other tenants are poor and greedy as well. In fact, all the residents of Fatima Manzil are ready to do terrible things in order to get a piece of the haveli.

This is Shoojit Sarkar’s Ugly. Anurag Kashyap showed us the seamier side of humanity in the 2014 film which I think is better than even his other celebrated gangster films. Ugly is available on Amazon Prime as well.

Gulabo Sitabo starts out as a funny story about a landlord and tenant and quickly dives into greed and you begin to pity the old man who loves the haveli more than he does his wife.

(Image: Instagram/@manav.manglani)

Tenants who are so poor and such simpletons, they can and are exploited by interest driven Gyanesh Shukla and Christopher Clarke. Even Baankey’s girlfriend Fauzia (pronounced ‘Faujia’ in the film, nice subtle touch of the vernacular use here!) turns out to be a mean girl. So does begum.

The haveli, which stands dilapidated and uncared for is a perfect place to house these awful characters. The poignancy of this mute witness has been captured beautifully by the cinematography by Avik Mukhopadhyay.

You remember the old home in the small town your father grew up in and know he will be shedding a tear or two understanding the love old Mirza has for his haveli. A small film called ‘Gamak Ghar’ which was shown at the Mumbai International Film Festival needs a second viewing after seeing this film.

The subtitling of this film ranges from lazy to dodgy. Best avoided. I understand that the local flavour of the language is impossible to translate, but sometimes it is good to be literal, the puns will not be lost. Like when Baankey spots Pandeyji who has brought Christopher for a visit to the haveli, and asks, ‘Bahut dino ke baad tapak gaye Pandey ji!’

I don’t need to explain the pun here, but the translation to this answer is just pathetic. Pandeyji says, ‘Ab pake thay toh tapak gaye.’

I raise my teacup in a toast to that line. Wah! The film is wonderful, except when the narrative gets stuck after an hour into the viewing. I have to admit that I used the cursor to go forward to check when the counting of ‘dus, sau, saikda, lakh…’ stops but then I hate losing out on little fun scenes like that with Mirza at the burial ground, so I stayed with the story. It is two hours long but could have been shorter, tighter.

That brings me back to watching the film on Amazon Prime Video. The website proudly proclaims that many filmmakers have decided to release their small films directly on these platforms because of COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown.

Gulabo Sitabo | Releasing on June 12 | Shoojit Sircar’s Gulabo Sitabo, starring Big B, Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurranawill directly release on Amazon Prime. (Image: Wikipedia)

This is the first. And a part of me that loves watching movies on the big screen regrets this phenomenon. But one part of me says, ‘It is best that some films do go to the home theatre’ because Gulabo Sitabo is not a giant spectacle like Star Wars, Batman and Avengers, even The Fast and the Furious.

It’s a decent film, but you have to have a nose for this kind of storytelling. The virus may be an excuse, but those who appreciate tiny gems will be happy. There are many like me who could be the characters of the film, greedy. I am already thinking of more subscriptions...

Manisha Lakhe is a poet, film critic, traveller, founder of Caferati — an online writer’s forum, hosts Mumbai’s oldest open mic, and teaches advertising, films and communication.