Peepli [Live]

Two nights ago Iwas participating in an online live chat with Aamir Khan (well, along with some 13000 others from around the world) who along with wife Kiran Rao, served as producers for Peepli Live, and as a parting remarked, had urged his fans to encourage their friends, especially those who have never watched an Indian film before, to give this a go, because this is not quite like the stereotypical films Indian cinema churns out with larger than life heroes romancing heroines in fantasy dream worlds.

And it's true, not that Indian cinema has always stuck with that unmistakable notion of how it presents itself, as over the years I've seen independent efforts that churn out hard-hitting stories that are minus the celebrities, but almost always have a message it wants to tell. Peepli Live departs from the usual 3 hours with interval, song and dance routines, to touch on a stark social issue in India – that of poverty and the lives of the rural folk, how inept the government is in lifting its people out of such a plight, and the role of the media that can sometimes get out of hand with less than responsible reporting. Which more mainstream films like Rann and Raajneeti would have also touched upon, but minus the heartfelt comedy that this satire brought along.

Written and directed by Anusha Rizvi in her feature film debut, one cannot escape from the fact that her journalistic background may have paved the way at the harsh yet comical criticism of the media in general, where reporters scramble to scoop and spin their own tales of rural life, and are relentless in their interviews with just about anyone who has an opinion on the issue at hand, that of the voluntary death of one of their own. They poke their noses everywhere, and when things turn dull, even resort to fabrication or plain making a mountain out of a molehill. I cannot deny that part of the fun here is watching how television crew and reporters eagerly camp out, in media circus like fashion, in a fictional state and village of Peepli. Just to get a chance at exclusivity with Naatha (Omkar Das Manikpuri) and brother Budhia (Raghubir Yadav) who seemed the smarter of the two.

These brotherly farmers open the film as we follow them to the city to seek a deferment in their bank loan, failing which the bank has decided to auction off their asset – their land. So an ominous note has rung out, since farmers without land means an automatic death sentence, especially when the land they live on not only provide sustenance, but that of a roof over their heads and that of the aged mother who's at odds with Naatha's wife, and children. They soon learn of an inexplicable government scheme whereby farmers who commit suicide get financial compensation, and soon decide that Naatha take up that offer. Overheard by a local newsman, this soon gets escalated, and the media descends onto the village to wait out and capture Naatha's death live.

Little do the brothers know, being so caught up in their plight of poverty, that their actions have repercussions on a bigger stage, one known as elections, and with politicians scrambling like mad to find an answer to this issue, because if anyone doesn't spin this properly, it'll translate to votes lost. And here Rizvi's subplot shines through again in her very pointed criticism of the way her government, and just about any other government, work, through the usual pointing of fingers between State and Federal lawmakers, and the half- baked schemes that they cook up that generally doesn't benefit anyone (other than looking good themselves), whether consciously knowing that it's a scam, or incompetently just aren't aware. Bootlickers and yes-men bureaucrats get shrewdly dealt with in the story as well.

In fact the slight comedy in the film worked wonders to sugar coat the hard hitting messages that Rizvi had intended to tackle, and frankly this may have dulled those messages a little, and ultimately leave one wondering if there's any genuine change that can be brought to tackle the problems at hand. Surely one cannot expect one film to change entire mindsets overnight, and at best, Peepli Live will leave one thinking about the issues, but unfortunately I suppose that's about where it'll stop at.

I'm not sure whether the usual audiences weaned on Bollywood fare may take to a film that's a social commentary on some of the biggest problems facing the country, since the enduring way of how cinema is presented provides pure escapism from common everyday problems, but Peepli Live should find its legs in the more patient, appreciative film festival circuit. Don't expect Aamir Khan to pop up at all in the film, but if you know how he works, then you'd know that his hand is probably in every aspect of this production.

Satire is always a tricky genre for directors. Always a possibility of making a mockery of a grave situation or making it too serious for the audience (especially Indian) to take it. This balancing act between the poignant and theatrical is a precarious one, which is why Anousha Rizvi's directorial debut is noteworthy. Rizvi, a former reporter/journalist from NDTV brings a more insightful approach to the problem of farmer suicides and dynamics of media coverage.

I am not a great fan of Indian cinema. But every once in a while a movie comes along that shows ambition and reach which is not reminiscent of our cinema in general. The script while focusing on the predicament of farmers also manages to bring in the role of the media and the politicians. Probably, one of the more well rounded scripts in Hindi cinema in recent times.

The plot:-" Natha a poor farmer from Peepli village in the heart of rural India is about to lose his plot of land due to an unpaid government loan. A quick fix to the problem is the very same government's program that aids the families of indebted farmers who have committed suicide. As a means of survival Farmer Natha can choose to die!!! His brother is happy to push him towards this unique 'honor' but Natha is reluctant. Local elections are around the corner and what might have been another unnoticed event turns into a 'cause celebré' with everyone wanting a piece of the action. Political bigwigs, high-ranking bureaucrats, local henchmen and the ever-zealous media descend upon sleepy Peepli to stake their claim. The question on everyone's lips - "Will he or Won't he?" As the mania escalates what will be the fate of Farmer Natha; nobody seems to care how he really feels?"

The criticism levelled out at the film inspite of the positive reviews is the lack of empathy it generates for the state of the farmers. It is a fair argument if those were your expectations from the film. My take is that it wasn't and it shouldn't be a director's prerogative to "effect" the audience. Especially in a satire, where the prime motive is to poke fun at the theatrical failure of system and its participants. Be it "Dr. Strangelove or how I learn to stop worrying and love the bomb" , "Network" , "Wag the dog", "Jaane Bhi do Yaaron" or any other great satire, I never really think the writer was conscious of establishing sympathy or empathy for the characters. Humour in life and films was essentially developed to convey some real harsh absolute truths in a sugar coated manner. We from the cities who our so pre occupied with planning our weekend, our holidays, our Diwali shopping, job appraisal etc can't be realistically expected to be social workers and understand the true plight of the farmers after paying Rs. 200 for an A/c theatre with sofa seat. It is quite incredible how insulated we are from "less privileged".

Of the performances everyone if top notch. Raghuveer Yadav is an explosive talent and I am glad he got this role. On a slight negative, the gag got a bit stretched in second half which could have been edited by 5-10 minutes. It is always a risk in a satire, when unnecessary emphasis is added on an element that audiences have understood, in this case it was of media "sensationalization". I think it was truly insightful in showing political and media nexus and how the cover stories and sound bytes are planned for. Maybe after this, people consuming the news will be more discrete.

Story: Story of two farmers Face loosing their land for an unpaid Government loan. At the time of National Elections they seek help from a Local Politician who suggests to commit suicide to get the benefit to their families.

* The Director and Producer deserve thumps up for coming with a movie with current issue - Farmers committing Suicide. * You too would have noticed 'What the News Channels' Want?! They are also marketing something, yes SO CALLED NEWS. And they market like anything. 'Death Toll Reaches 50 and Expected to reach 100 by Tomorrow morning', 'Breaking New - MLA's Sister had Knee Injury' etc..

Bollywood - Its very happy see this kind of movies in an Industry where Actors become just a Marketing Executive for their loose Products. Though there are a lot of Directors who just copies and rips from Hollywood or South Indian Movies, there are also few and very few directors and Productions houses who try to come up with new Innovative ideas. UTV is one such Brand and its great to see Aamir Khan producing as Movie in the kind of changing Bollywood to more meaningful.

The style of Director is sharp and strong though the director missed to convey a message - but sticked in to the story and left no Message. The film explores the response of the media. Many Scenes of the film spoofs the Internet and TV Media and Politics. The Natural and Simple Narration will take you to those good old Days where only good movies where produced. Problems of Farmers was usual topic in Malayalam Movies but Post 2000 - this is the best movie about Farmers to come in India.

Bollywood rarely make Sensible movies and Rarely does the Fans make them Box Office HIT. Different Attempt is not accepted easily in North comparing to South of India (Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada) wishing to see more people watching this movie. Promoting this movie only makes Bollywood Look better. Let they come up with more meaningful Movies here after.

Bollywood is changing finally! Bigtime!! Makers are now finally shifting their focus on realistic movies rather than making movies having same old clichés and melodrama. Latest film to add in the list is Peepli Live. Produced by ever dependable Aamir Khan, the movie has no big name in the star cast but kudos to Débutante Director Anusha Rizwi's superb screenplay and direction and combining with monstrous marketing strategies by Aamir Khan this created waves worldwide.

The subject of the movie is simple yet thought provoking. As India moves to an industrialized economy, farmers are committing suicide. Self- serving politicians at all government levels have been unwilling or unable to do anything about this. While the movie might appear as a spoof on the farmer suicides but it ends up conveying much more and presents some shocking facts.

Peepli residents Natha(Omkar Das) and elder brother Budhia(Raghuveer Yadav)after losing their land to the bank for not paying up their loan take the jest seriously and decide to volunteer. Natha decides to commit suicide and it becomes a big news. Reporters Nandita Malik(Malaika Shenoy), Deepak(Vishal Sharma) and a local reporter Rakesh(Nawazuddin) along with others make it a big issue and eventually the positions of many ministers is at stake. What follows is a very well directed satire.

Anusha Rizwi has handled her directorial debut like a pro.The lingo is earthy and much humour is derived from the manner it is spoken by the characters. Anusha leaves no stone unturned to poke fun of vote hungry politicians. Acting Department is ruled by Omkar Das and Vishal Sharma. Expressions given by the former make his character very endearing and the dialogues spoken by the latter are hilarious. Raghuveer Yadav has enacted his role impressively! Nawazzudin is exceptional as the reporter whose conscience awakens. Shankar Raman's Camera work makes a good impact. Music by Indian Ocean is OK.

To conclude, I would say go for it is you really want to see bollywood coming of its age and of course because its an Aamir Khan Production.

My Rating: 7/10

Thanks & Regards

I'm a native American and saw this movie in a theater with maybe 30 Indians (sorry, I'm old enough to find multiple ironies in that sentence). Anyway, I went into this movie with no expectations. Though I've seen a number of Indian movies over the last few years, I knew nothing of this author or director. I laughed out loud more than I have for any Hollywood movie this year. My cohorts found it even funnier than I, but I guarantee you that you don't need to know that much about Indian politics or media to get most of this satire.

It starts with a farmer deciding to commit suicide to get his family the $2000 that may save his farm from foreclosure. From there, the media and government turn it into a circus, stepping all over themselves in their self-serving ways.

It suffers only in minor ways from a few slow spots and odd shifts in tone, but these are worth sitting through. It's currently showing here only at a suburban Atlanta theater that shows a combination of H-wood and B-wood. This should have been picked up by some American distributer when it showed at Sundance. Hopefully, enough people will see it and generate the buzz to get it to a wider audience.