Gulabo Sitabo - Movie Review

Director Shoojit Sircar's 'Gulabo Sitabo' opens with a roadside puppet show in Lucknow, featuring two quarrelsome puppets - Gulabo and Sitabo. The puppeteer sings - 'Sitabo phul gayi, Gulabo phul gayi' (Sitabo is flaring up, Gulabo is flaring up) about their conflict. Parallely, we get a glimpse of an old & rusty man, Mirza (Amitabh Bachchan), selling trivial things like light bulbs and cycle bells in scrap. The petty old man walks back to a sprawling but dilapidated haveli - Fatima Mahal. Owned by Fatima Begum (Farrukh Jaffar) and managed by Mirza, the dingy 'mahal' (one cannot really call it that) has a bunch of tenants, who have inhabited the place for decades but pay a paltry 70 bucks as rent. Among them, Baankey Rastogi (Ayushmann Khurrana) makes for a perfect Gulabo to Mirza's Sitabo - the two are always at loggerheads with either one trying to outwit the other.

At a superficial level, Gulabo Sitabo is a landlord-tenant saga we have seen in various movies, the last of which I can remember was Priyadarshan's 2001 flick, 'Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar'. But, Gulabo Sitabo goes deeper - it also throws light on the sad and deprived lives that some of the erstwhile royal families lead in India, of which Fatima Begum and Mirza are fading examples. 70 years after Indian independence, the royalty and the pauper live together and both run after meagre alms. The movie also shows us how the simpletons of our country are taken for a ride by street-smart people and probably, their own government. When Mirza sells petty things form the 'mahal' and faints at the mere sound of a large sum of money, you think he is a miser looking to make money - by hook or crook. When Baankey disses his landlord and escapes from paying rent, you think he is being unfair to his shrewd but elderly landlord. As the knots open, one realises that our protagonists are not bickering Gulabo-Sitabo, but are just the victims of their circumstances and money (or the lack of it) has made them the way they are. While the theme and intent is noble, Gulabo Sitabo falters in conveying the message to its viewers.

Shoojit Sircar collaborates with his successful writer partner, Juhi Chaturvedi. Sircar-Chaturvedi combo are known for their quirky stories, realistic relationships and endearing characters. Much like the achingly beautiful, October or the gastronomic fun, Piku, Gulabo Sitabo is a slow and simmering tale which requires its viewers to immerse in their world. I felt the biggest problem here was the OTT release. With streaming platforms, one has access to a variety of content at their fingertips. For a movie being streamed at home, it is very important for it to be effective and interesting over the various distractions at home. To savour and relish something like Gulabo Sitabo, one needs an all-consuming attention and closed environment which can only be experienced in a theatre. I think this is where Gulabo Sitabo did not connect with me as much as I would have liked it to. Having said that, Gulabo Sitabo was meant to have a theatric release and probably that's why it was not tailored for streaming platforms. Yet, it remains a decent watch, if not as delightful and endearing as Sircar-Chaturvedi's previous works.

What works for the film is its cast and their on-point performances. Amitabh Bachchan is brilliant as the annoying and aging Mirza, hated by everyone yet your heart tugs at him towards the end. Right from his gait to his urdu to his look, he transforms from the BigB that we know, to a completely different person. Its baffling how he plays a Bhaskor in Piku and a Mirza in Gulabo Sitabo with such ease & elan. Ayushmann Khurrana (with a lisp) is nice as the uneducated and gullible bread-winner of his family. His character, along with the other gullible tenants and Mirza, show us how the needy are exploited at the hands of those in power. The rest of the cast fit well into the narrative especially Vijay Raaz and Brijendra Kaala as the manipoulative government official and lawyer, respectively. Special mention of Srishti Shrivastava as Guddo, Baankey's educated, sharp-tongued and smart sister. The cinematography by Avik Mukhopadhyay paints Lucknow vividly and creates a gloomy yet endearing Fatima Mahal for us. The stunning visuals are supported well by the folksy tunes by

Shantanu Moitra.

Honestly, I really wish Gulabo Sitabo worked better for me, having been a fan of Juhi Chaturvedi's writing and Shoojit Sircar's voice as a director. Probably it required an immersive movie experience that only theatres give us and it did not connect well when the medium changed from a big screen to a TV. But, all said and done, Gulabo Sitabo still deserves a watch for its delightful performances and a quirky story-line.

My Rating - 2.5/5