Gulabo Sitabo: A tale of greed

If you are someone who is tired of fast-paced narratives with exuberant action sequences and over the top emotions of OTT content, Gulabo Sitabo is the change you are looking for. The film is not entirely a slow-paced message-driven film nor is it a fast-paced substance filled action. It comfortably sits in between.

I, hailing from Karnataka, was reminded of Anant Nag’s earlier works when I first saw the trailer of Gulabo Sitabo. I wouldn’t be lying if I said most of the Kannadigas thought so. However, it isn’t.

Originally, Gulabo Sitabo is a traditional glove puppet theatre from Uttar Pradesh. In the show, according to World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts, the puppeteer constructs a semi-improvised plot which is a mixture of salacious jokes, caustic reflections, laced with local humour.

The film is aptly placed in Lucknow. Here the Gulabo and Sitabo take shape of Baankey, played by Ayushmann Khurana, and Mirza, played by Amitabh Bachchan. After Piku – a dialogue-heavy film – Shoojit Sircar did October – a much more silent and melancholic film. Gulabo Sitabo has shades of both films. It is dialogue-heavy and manages to be slightly melancholic.

The film is in no way a must-watch. It has its share of flaws. But this can be a perfect escape from all the cliched mainstream films. I found the film to be best in its portrayal of the broken relationship between Mirza, a 77-year-old man, and his wife – Begum – who is 17 years elder to him. The conversations between them will surely make you laugh.

The film’s main character is the 100-year-old mansion. Mirza married Begum only because he wanted the mansion. He can be the rightful owner only after Begum’s death. Mirza even states in the film that he didn’t have kids because he wanted to be the owner of the mansion. And Baankey is one of the five tenants living in the mansion. Baankey pays a sum of 30 rupees as rent each month.

Shoojit along with the cinematographer Avik Mukhopadhyay manages to bring out the beauty and the essence of the old. Be it the mansion, or the characters. Amitabh and Farrukh are convincing as Mirza and Begum. While Amitabh expresses more with his body language, Farrukh does it mostly with her facial expressions. I liked Farrukh the most. She made me smile each time she appeared on the screen. Ayushmann also does a convincing job. The music by Shantanu Moitra is also neatly done. It manages to keep the tone of the film in check.

Gulabo Sitabo is one of those films where we’re just an observer. It’s a kind of film where we get to witness the lives of a few characters for a certain period. The film is not message-driven. It does not ask you to take sides as well. It makes you smile and laugh.