Shyam Benegal with Amrita Rao (left) and Shreyas Talpade

The obvious first question: Why is Shyam Benegal making a comedy after 24 years of film-making?

Why not? My answer to that is very simple. Why not? Do I have to explain myself why I am making a comedy?

No but you are synonymous with serious cinema...

It’s a subject that I got which I thought was wonderful. I mean comedy is something which I have been wanting to make for some time. So I decided to make it.

It’s been almost four years since Bose: The Forgotten Hero... What kept you busy?

It has taken me some time. The script was ready but I was busy with some other project (the Carmen adaptation Chameli) at that time. It was unfortunate that I could not make it at that time. Somehow it wasn’t coming together and I thought that making Welcome To Sajjanpur meanwhile would be the right thing to do.

What about Welcome To Sajjanpur inspired you to make your first comedy?

It’s about a today’s village which is in a remote part of India. But it is not isolated simply because we have cell phones, Internet and all that sort of stuff. But what we do not have is literacy. Literacy continues to be low which allows the only graduate of the village to make a living as a letter writer. This Mahadev guy not only writes personal letters but he also gets to read letters. So he has a great amount of power, no? That’s the basis of the story. I wrote the story and Ashok Mishra wrote the script.

Why did you change the name from Mahadev ka Sajjanpur to Welcome to Sajjanpur?

They tried it out on a section of people... Mahadev ka Sajjanpur may have been intriguing for a lot of people but it was also being misunderstood. Welcome to Sajjanpur is simpler and has the same kind of intrigue. It immediately takes your attention to the kind of people probably living in that village.

Have you consciously stayed away from making comedies or has it just not happened?

To do a comedy you must have a good subject and you must have a good script. Without a good script, you can’t make a good comedy. Comedy is one of the most difficult genres to attempt. If it has to work. It is not an easy genre. Comedy can range from making you smile, smile to yourself and then to chuckle, to laugh... to riotous laughter, to hysterical laughter. It’s a whole range of things you can evoke if done with understanding. The script has to provide that for you. Buffoonery alone is not comedy.

In terms of directing actors is it any different when it comes to a comedy?

It’s more or less the same... just that comedy needs a great sense of timing on the part of your actors. Also the kind of mise-en-scene you work out has to be pretty sharp-witted. It cannot slacken. Otherwise it wilts. You can’t allow the situation to wilt.

Apart from Ila Arun and Rajeshwari Sachdev, you are working with ‘new’ actors...

Shreyas is not a new actor.... He has done some very good work in the last couple of years. And then Amrita Rao is also not absolutely new. Ravi Kissen is also a huge Bhojpuri star. Ila, of course, has been with me since 1982. Rajeshwari and Divya Dutta have all worked with me before. I didn’t find anyone who seemed new to me. They are all very disciplined people, quick on the uptake, they do a great deal of homework before they come.... So all these things matter. Today the film industry is very different from what it used to be in the past. It’s a very different pace of work. People don’t go about with their starry airs.... They know what a film can do for their career, etc.

There is always a message in your movie. Is Welcome to Sajjanpur about the need for literacy?

It touches upon a lot of contemporary issues that have become a part of our everyday experience. Gender issues, empowerment issues, political empowerment issues... all of them find some place, some mention in the daily life of Sajjanpur. Much of this exists in villages today. Of course, Sajjanpur is fictional but most of the situations that you see in the film can and do happen in villages today.

Which are the comedies you have liked over the years?

Outside of India, I love Charlie Chaplin. He is number one for me. A great mime actor. Then there’s Billy Wilder, who was not just a great comic actor but was also a very fine director. In India, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro was a great political satire-cum-farce. It was brilliant. There are films that one has enjoyed and laughed with but it’s not easy to name them.

Comedy today has become a marketing blitz with a star in front. Don’t you think the quality has gone down?

There are different kinds of comedies. Comedies can range from absolute no-brainers to highly sophisticated on the other end. There’s a whole spectrum. There’s a place for a no-brainer comedy where slipping on a banana peel evokes laughter. There’s a place for everything. Welcome To Sajjanpur has got a lot of verbal comedy.

Finally, for someone with such strong links with Bengal, does the Singur incident hurt you enough to make a film?

I feel very, very sad... If Bengal collapses because of Singur it will truly be a sad day. It should not become a game to win political power. This kind of game is not necessary. It’s too close to make a film on Singur immediately. But it may result in a film later at some stage.

Which is your favourite Benegal film and why? Tell t2@abpmail.com