Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008)

Mahadev has a degree and ambitions of writing a great novel, but in the village of Sajjanpur the only work his pen can find is writing letters for those who cannot. Soon he is composing love letters, pleas and complaints for half the village: a mother worried about her daughter's horoscope, a lonely widow and the compounder who loves her, a eunuch contesting the local election, and Kamla, his childhood sweetheart, whose husband works far away in Mumbai. Mahadev is tempted to shape the stories he writes. Shyam Benegal, the master of Indian parallel cinema, turned to warm comedy here, using the letters to touch on caste, superstition, widow remarriage and rural politics. Shantanu Moitra's folk-flavoured songs add to the charm.