Shoojit Sircar’s Gulabo Sitabo is set in the old parts of Lucknow, but tourists and consumers of films about the city’s famed gentility an...
Shoojit Sircar’s Gulabo Sitabo is set in the old parts of Lucknow, but tourists and consumers of films about the city’s famed gentility and aristocratic traditions will be hard-pressed to recognise it.
Only the faintest trace of grace survives in this movie version of Lucknow. Here, the loftily named mansion Fatema Mahal is actually a decrepit collection of shaky walls and missing railings. Residents are perennially short of money, wear clothes a few threads away from rags and communicate through barbs and taunts.
Back in the day, Fatema Mahal might have been a grand building. In the present, it’s a beehive of resentment. Crotchety landlord Mirza (Amitabh Bachchan) wants to clear out his tenants, each of whom pays him less monthly rent than the cost of two tickets to enter the Bara Imambara. The most truculent resident is Bankey (Ayushmann Khurrana), who doesn’t care that Mirza is an octogenarian seemingly on the verge of kicking the bucket.
Mirza might look like a sad old man in need of a hug, but his greed for control of Fatema Mahal drives him to behave in dubious ways. However, the property is in the name of Mirza’s wife Fatto (Farrukh Jafar) and she looks healthy enough to outlive...
