Peepli Live Doing well at Box Office

Releasing over 600 screens in the domestic market and 100 abroad, except Britain, Peepli Live managed to rake in Rs 70 million (Rs 7 crore) gross on its opening day itself.

Made on a budget of approximately Rs 100 million (including marketing costs), the movie left the audiences bursting out in guffaws and recovered its investment even before its release through satellite and music rights for Rs 100 million and Rs 40 million respectively.

It starred lesser known tribals from Bhadwai village in Madhya Pradesh and members of late playwright Habib Tanvir's theatre troupe Naya Theatre. While the lead Natha was played by Omkar Das Manikpuri, other actors in the movie are Malaika Shenoy, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shalini Vatsa, Farrukh Jaffer, Vishal O. Sharma, Aamir Bashir, Sitaram Panchal and Yugal Kishore. The only known actors in the black comedy have been Naseeruddin Shah and Raguveer Yadav.

Help, co-produced by Vinay Chowksey and Sanjay Ahluwalia, was totally eclipsed.

"We can't share the figures for 'Help', however, all we can say is that it is very less," said a source from its production unit.

Peepli Live, co-produced and distributed worldwide by UTV Motion Pictures, has done well at small centres too.

"There has been a good response for the movie here. We are running six shows per day and we've had footfalls close to 2,000 in three days. We are expecting the movie to sustain this whole week," said an official from Cinemax in Siliguri, West Bengal.

Sakshi Mehra, owner of IP3 multiplex, Varansai and president of the Motion Pictures Association of Delhi-Uttar Pradesh said: "The response for the movie has been very good. The collections are good and the expectations are high for the second week too. Brand Aamir Khan has worked wonders."

Tauqeer Ahmad, manager of Muzaffarpur's Amar Cinema, was also pleased at the response.

"The business was OK with 75 percent occupancy over the weekend. The movie exceeded our expectations and it will sustain for sometime now," said Ahmad.

S.M. Rane, mangaer, of Natraj Cinema Hall in Jalgaon, thought differently.

"The initial weekend for Peepli Live was nothing great as expected. We had an average occupancy of only 40 percent," he said.

Midas Touch August 18, 2010 - 07:46 IST This is no joke! It was part of a very serious conversation that I was having on Monday evening with a top notch distributor, while discussing the weekend business of PEEPLI [LIVE]. The distributor in question, who is associated with one of the leading distribution companies of the country and is not remotely connected with PEEPLI [LIVE], was discussing the weekend figures of the film and he said something that made me smile wide. Let me quote him verbatim: "I was telling my colleague this morning that we need to frame a pic of Aamir in our office. Perhaps, by touching his pic, the Midas Touch would rub on us and our films would fare equally well." That speaks for Brand Aamir Khan, which has emerged the most powerful name in Bollywood today. Even if Aamir isn't associated with the film in the capacity of an actor, his name in the producers' credits is enough to ensure ample excitement towards the film. JAANE TU YA JAANE NA and PEEPLI [LIVE] have proved it. In fact, had it not been for Aamir, PEEPLI [LIVE] wouldn't have generated the buzz that it has or attracted as many footfalls at plexes. Sure, it's a fantastic film, but art house cinema is yet to find a solid foothold in India. Even internationally, films like PEEPLI [LIVE] never get released in theatres and if they do, the prints are limited to a mere 2/3/4. That's it! That Aamir is a super actor is known to all and sundry. But Aamir is a super businessman as well. The cost of production of PEEPLI [LIVE] was close to Rs. 6 cr. and the actor had recovered Rs. 8 cr. from Satellite and Rs. 2 cr. from Music Rights prior to the release of the film. The weekend business in India has fetched approx. Rs. 16 cr. nett, which means that the distributors' share is close to Rs. 8.5 cr. Now let's await the Monday to Thursday figures. The film hasn't opened in U.K., but has fared wonderfully well in U.S., Gulf [despite Ramzan] and Australia [Overseas Boxoffice]. As things stand today, it's difficult to put a figure on the kind of money Aamir and UTV would make as profits, but one this is certain. Aamir has struck Gold yet again.

Interview of Aamir Khan with Rajeev Masand

http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/128482/a-candid-conversation-with-aamir-khan.html

Raghuvir Yadav wonders about Aamir Khan’s perfectionism
August 12th, 2010

Mumbai, Aug 12 – Raghuvir Yadav, who plays a pivotal role in Aamir Khan’s most talked-about production venture “Peepli Live”, is bowled over by his evolvement as a perfectionist filmmaker and actor.

“In ‘Lagaan’, I found Aamir as a very sorted out personality. When I saw his ‘Taare Zameen Par’, he looked more matured. I wonder to what extent Aamir will evolve as a perfectionist. He will take Bollywood by storm,” Yadav told IANS in an interview.

“When you work in his production, you never feel that someone is big or small – everyone thinks it’s a unit and together you can make the film better. Finally, it turns out to be a fantastic film,” he added.

Director Anusha Rizvi has put the spotlight on farmers’ suicides and how media and politicians react to such grave issues in her first directorial venture “Peepli Live”.

In the film, Raghuvir plays a farmer who is unable to repay the loan. As a result, his small piece of land is put under the hammer. What happens when he tries to save his only source of livelihood is the film all about.

The actor found neither of the roles – Bhura of “Lagaan” or Budhiya in “Peepli Live” -difficult as he lived the problems of rural India.

“Neither of the roles were difficult for me because I am from rural India. I have the personal experience of living the problem of rural India, so both the characters were easy to portray,”said Yadav.

The veteran theatre actor, who is still remembered for playing Mungerilal in the hit television comedy show “Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne”, believes “Peepli Live” has more than one message to convey.

“Once you see the film you will understand that the film is filled with multiple messages. It says everyone has a social responsibility. If everyone takes his or her share of responsibility, there will be no problem in having a happy life. Government has the biggest responsibility in minimising the problem. Until there is true equality, the rural India will keep facing problems,” said Yadav.

One thing that disturbs the actor is the commercialization of the art of acting.

“The emotional attachment with acting is highly missing in young actors. Commercialisation of art disturbs me a lot. It seems you have become corrupted. Earlier people used to choose acting because they loved the art and weren’t bothered whether they were paid less or nothing at times. Now it seems that to make money people are endorsing the art of acting,” said Yadav.

Asked if he is planning to direct a film, he said: “I have a script ready and would like to try my hand in direction as well. Let me see how soon I am able to bring it on floor.”

Peepli Live Reviews - Average Rating 3.6

INDIAN REVIEWS

Minty Tejpal, Mumbai Mirror: 3.5 stars
Blessy Chettiar, DNA: 3 stars
Faridoon Shahryar:: "a film that happens very rarely"
Mayank Shekhar, HT: 4 stars
Pankaj Sabnana, Glamsham: 4.5 stars
Annirudha Guha, DNA:: 3.5 stars
Nikhat Kazmi, TOI: 3.5 stars
Saibal Chatterji, NDTV: 4 stars
Taran Adarsh, Bollywood Hungama: 4.5 stars
Mithila Gupta, News Hits:: "Makes us feel enriched and entertained"

OTHER REVIEWS

Gary Goldstein, LA Times: "succeeds more often than not"
Janos Gereben: San Francisco Examiner: 3 stars
G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle: "can't escape certain predictability to Westerners"
Rachel Saltz, NY Times: "after a compelling setup her [Rizvi's] script runs out of juice"
Rob Nelson, Variety: "peppy screwball comedy"
David D'Arcy, Screen Daily: "bawdy take on the rural class struggle"
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: "both funny and sobering"
Aaron Hillis, LA Weekly: "unusual taste of mainstream Indian cinema"

Andrew Schenker, Slant Magazine: 2.5 stars
Michelle Oranje, Movie Line: "Rizvi is unable to commit to (or pull off) pitch-black satire"


Avg. rating: 3.6 stars (36)

Peepli [Live] grossed a good 4 crore nett approx on its first day. The territorial breakdown is as follows. The out performance is in the Delhi/UP area.



Mumbai - 1.45 crore



Delhi/UP - 1.15 crore



East Punjab - 45 lakhs



West Bengal - 15 lakhs



CP Berar - 18 lakhs



CI - 12 lakhs



Rajasthan - 17 lakhs



Nizam - 15 lakhs



Mysore - 15 lakhs



Others - 10 lakhs



TOTAL - 4.08 crore


[www.boxofficeindia.com]

Aamir Khan’s Peepli Live Opens Well At Box Office

Komal Nahta

The non-star cast Peepli Live has opened this week to a good response in the multiplexes, bringing cheer in the industry. Peepli Live, produced by Aamir Khan, is mainly for the multiplexes and the big cities and it will fetch very handsome returns from there. Although it will not work in many of the singlescreen cinemas and centres other than the big cities, its business will be A1 class since it has already recovered its cost from non-theatrical revenues. The Box Office Opening of Peepli Live was very good in the big cities and average elsewhere, considering that it has as good as nil face value.