The recently released socio-political satire ‘Gulabo Sitabo indeed revolves around an ancient proverb “Greed is indeed a bad ball”.
Well, everything is happening for the first time these days- people sitting in their homes for so long for the first time; tragedies sticking our populace continuously and the like.
Similarly, Gulabo Sitabo is the first major film in the history of Bollywood to release on an OTT platform. This film made under the direction of Shoojit Sircar will make you laugh as well as introduce you to the beautiful streets and lanes of Lucknow. Like the director himself says, Sitabo is to be watched leisurely and if there is no leisure, he advised us to take some leisure time and then watch it.
There is no such character in this film who seems less or more interested than the other. Everyone has played their roles well. The story of the film revolves around an old mansion named ‘Fatima Mahal’ where Mirza (Amitabh Bachchan) lives with many of his tenants. Baanke (Ayushman Khurana) is one of those tenants, whom Mirza does not eye to eye with! Mirza is undoubtedly a very greedy and irritating person.
The sharp note from Baanke-Mirza and the Lakhanvi style of both will force you to love this film more, which reminds you more of a Tom and Jerry bond in a middle-class Indian setting. At the same time, every effort has been made to show everything from the smallest to the grandest things in Lucknow, whether it is thin streets or Imambara. The cinematography and background score of the movie are worth mentioning.
To make a critic point, the film gets a little slow in the middle, which might make you bored.
Apart from Amitabh and Ayushman, the actor playing the role of Begum has also done an amazing job, who knows what is going on in her husband’s mind about the mansion but she waits for her turn. Her dialogue in the film may be low but her mischievous eyes enchanted through the screen.
Mirza wants to sell his mansion, but the mansion is named after his begum, whom Mirza has been waiting for so long to die. Mirza’s greed can be gauged from the fact that he is not part of the mansion, for which he does not produce any children.
The 78-year-old rash landlord wants to expel his not so worthy tenants out of the mansion at any cost. He turns out to threaten them to vacate the house and cut off their lights and other basic needs. Over time, tenants also develop a feeling of belonging to the mansion and find it hard to move out of there on both emotional and materialistic grounds.
Now, upon all these issues, one day the matter reaches the police station, from where the antiquity department’s eye falls on this mansion. At the same time, Mirza indulges in court struggle to get Banke and other tenants out of the mansion and take possession of the mansion. After this, the race to capture the mansion begins in the film, where the heart and soul of the movie lies, to which you will have to turn to this film to enjoy it.
Now, will Mirza be able to cast all the characters including Banke? Will the tenants leave the palace easily? Will Mirza be able to sell this palace? Will lawyers, leaders be able to resolve the issue of this palace or will only a third person be killed in their fight? Who will eat the laddus that are being made in the film about the mansion?
Why does Begum marry Mirza, someone 17 years younger to her?
To know all this, you should definitely watch the funny story woven in a small town. The climax is the most interesting part of the film and turns out to be a great surprise for us viewers.