Shyam Benegal is known for his feel-good films. After Sajjanpur, he comes up with another rural India story, but a satire this time on the Indian Politics and corruption. This time its based in a small AP village of Chikatpally. Boman Irani plays Armaan Ali and Rahman Ali, who are twin brothers, but are totally unlike each other. Armaan Ali is a God-fearing honest chauffeur who works in Mumbai, whereas Rahman Ali keeps stealing and doing other unsocial things in the village, along with his wife Salma, played by Ila Arun. They both take care of the daughter of Armaan Ali - Muskaan (Minisha Lamba). Armaan returns to village to find a suitable groom for Muskaan, only to find that the water situation in village is really bad. So, he decides to make a 'Bawdi' (a well), so that it would help him suffice the needs of water and also irrigate his fields. But, only later does he come to know that it is not as simple as he had thought it to be. The corrupt government officials, the pending works - all sum up his agitation and he finally decides to give up. But, Muskaan, being educated, shows him a way to mend the government officials. The performances by each and every cast member is really good. Boman Irani in his Hyderabadi accent brought back some old memories of Mehmood, he was outstanding in both of his roles. Minishha Lamba was a surprise - after Yahaan and Shaurya, she comes up with an equally good performance in this one. Ila Arun, Sameer Dattani, Ravi Kishen and Sonali Kulkarni live up to their roles. If only the script was well paced and some of the scenes were not repetitive, it would have been more entertaining. That is the only difference between Sajjanpur and this one, the former was far more entertaining and had some really interesting characters, unlike few selected characters here. I'd still give it a 3.5/5 for the feel-good factor.
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