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.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
| 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.Sunday, August 15, 2010
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.”
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]
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
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.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Peepli [Live] Boxoffice – Guaranteed Hit
Peepli [Live] after mixed opening picked up over evening shows to quite an extent[60-80% at places]. First day early estimate is around 3.75-4 Crore [ Quite a big number for this sort of movie]. Full credit to Aamir. Exclude Aamir name from movie and it was almost impossible to collect even a Crore for movie. This sort of faith and believe was never seen after Bachchan Era [It was time when even his show “Jumma Chumma in London” video screened in theaters and opened to full houses].
The way Peeli[Live] has picked up over first day itself, weekend figures will be nothing less than 16 Crore [A figure one can proud of]. Should be breakeven on weekend itself. A guaranteed hit venture. Aamir .. Kudos !!
Aamir Khan: Redefines audiences' movie taste
Producer and director Aamir Khan is India’s most iconic classic actor. He is also Indian cinema’s most successful box office star. These days he is a passionate film producer who is pushing the envelope and redefining what audiences want at the movies.
Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Aamir Khan on CNBC-TV18. Also see the accompanying video.
Q: I have been watching the promos for Peepli Live. The movie is looking exciting. How do you green-light a project like that?
A: It is a most unusual film. Quite honestly I green-light films pretty much the same way. When I read a script or listen to a narration of a complete script, it is my instinctive and emotional response to the material. If it moves and excites me, I get attracted towards it. So, it’s pretty much what I feel at point. I am an audience at that time and how I feel towards it is how I take that decision.
In this case, Anusha Rizvi, who used to be a journalist, wrote to me. It was one of the many e-mails I receive which are offers for films and scripts. I didn’t take it seriously. The reason I noticed her email was because I was doing her film Mangal Pandey: The Rising. She said I have script for you and it’s called The Falling. So, I thought someone was being cheeky with me.
But I remember the name Anusha Rizvi and the word The Falling and repeatedly kept getting emails from her. Much later, when I was shooting for Rang De Basanti in Delhi, I told her to come in and narrate the script to me. If you ask me why I picked her script to listen to, I don’t know.
Q: When she narrated the script, what made you feel we should or can do this?
A: I found it most intriguing and engaging.
Q: It is a satire from what I can make out from the promos?
A: It is a satire. It was a very funny script. It makes you laugh and also its very heart breaking. For someone like me who is from an urban city, I found it very sensitizing. Lot of things that I did not know existed or how things happen in villages. It’s a very realistic portrayal, so the humour is not farcical. The humour is not over the top. It’s very real but it’s funny. I felt a lot of things that she was saying that were really beautiful but a lot of that came out when I asked her questions. So, the only one cue I gave her was what has come out in our discussion needs to come out in the script because as an audience I won’t have the liberty to discus things with you, so all this should come out in the script and I shouldn’t need to ask any questions.
I also asked her to shoot 4-5 scenes to see if she could execute what she had written. I liked the way she did that. So, it was kind of test and I green-lit the film. It is not an easy script to execute. It is very layered and though it is issue based, it is very human.
Q: It is a satire on Indian society today.
A: It is and so each one is seen is as a human being and not as the caricature. On some level, there is caricature as well. But I think her approach is not judgmental and that is what I like about it. Also, it doesn’t tell you what to do. It leaves you with certain things, it sensitizes, and makes you think. As opposed to 3 Idiots which is very much an issue-based film. But 3 Idiots takes a stance, it passes judgement. It says that Chatur is not good, he ratos. Rancho is good. Don’t be like Chatur. Don’t be like Viru Sahastrabudhhe, the Principal. Be like Rancho, Raju and Farhan. So, it takes a judgement and it tells you things in a very bold way.
Q: What is your way?
A: My way in no way. My way is the directors’ way because I work with so many different kinds of directors. I feel that it’s the directors’ voice that should come through.
Peepli Live Movie Box Office Report
Peepli Live had an extraordinary opening at the box office: Aamir Khan’s most awaited film “Peepli Live” has hit theatres Friday. At the very opening day it made an extraordinary opening at the box office. It made a huge collection of Rs 70 million.
Aamir was flabbergasted with this response. Aamir stated “’Peepli Live’ has opened extremely well. What is surprising is the reaction from single screens – it opened to almost 90 to 95 percent in single screens.” “Peepli Live” had the widest film release.
The film casts Naseeruddin Shah, Omkar Das, Malaika Shenoy, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shalini Vatsa, Farrukh Jaffer, Vishal O. Sharma, Aamir Bashir, Sitaram Panchal and Yugal Kishore.
Peepli Live rocks at the box office
Despite the absence of any known stars, the rural theme and a difficult language to comprehend (for a few circuits especially), Peepli Liveembarked on a decent start in morning and noon shows at several screens, but showed a healthy increase with every show. In fact, a section of the industry was skeptical about its performance at single screens, but the single screens also showed an escalation gradually.
The brand, Aamir Khan, ensured ample shows at plexes throughout the country. The business showed a jump towards evening shows [90% to 100%; superb] and the night shows are packed at many places in advance/block bookings at prime locations. The opening weekend is expected to be extra-ordinary since Sunday is a national holiday (15 August).
The film is a profitable venture for its producers, even if one doesn't add the revenue generated from theatrical avenues. The cost of production is approx. Rs. 6 cr. (excl. P. & A.) and the makers have already recovered Rs. 8 cr. from Satellite Rights and Rs. 2 cr. from Music Rights. The revenue generated from India theatrical, entire Overseas and Home Video is only going to add to the profits.
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Peepli Live strikes gold at Box Office on opening day
... |
Aamir Khan's Midas touch continues with his production venture Peepli Live, a non commercial film about farmer suicides, doing well on its opening day, taking the actor pleasantly by surprise, and raking up about Rs 70 million and still counting.
"Initially, we had planned to openwith 200 screens. But the reaction to the promos and trailers has been most encouraging. We are trying to react to the perceived demand to the film," said Aamir in a statement.
Journalist-turned-director Anusha Rizvi's direcotrial debut, Peepli [Live]was made on a budget of approximately Rs.100 million (including marketing costs) and recovered its investment even before its release by selling its satellite rights for Rs.100 million and music rights for Rs 40 million.
"Peepli [Live] has opened extremely well. What is surprising is the reaction from single screens - it opened to almost 90 to 95 percent in single screens," said a source close to Aamir.
"As a non-star cast film with A-certificate, trade expected the film to do modest business. However, the film has done bigger business than small films by three times," added the source.
"Initially, we had planned to open
Journalist-turned-director Anusha Rizvi's direcotrial debut, Peepli [Live]was made on a budget of approximately Rs.100 million (including marketing costs) and recovered its investment even before its release by selling its satellite rights for Rs.100 million and music rights for Rs 40 million.
"Peepli [Live] has opened extremely well. What is surprising is the reaction from single screens - it opened to almost 90 to 95 percent in single screens," said a source close to Aamir."As a non-star cast film with A-certificate, trade expected the film to do modest business. However, the film has done bigger business than small films by three times," added the source.
The cast of the film didn't have any big names except Naseeruddin Shah. Many actors are tribals from Bhadwai village in Madhya Pradesh, while other cast members are from late playwright Habib Tanvir's theatre troupe Naya Theatre, including the main lead Omkar Das Manikpuri, who plays Natha.
Other names in the cast are Malaika Shenoy, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shalini Vatsa, Farrukh Jaffer, Vishal O. Sharma, Aamir Bashir, Sitaram Panchal and Yugal Kishore.
Peepli [Live] had the widest film release ever for a non star cast Hindi film. It hit 600 screens in India and 100 in overseas markets, except Britain Friday.
This is the fourth film from Aamir Khan Productions Ltd. after Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India (2001),Taare Zameen Par (2007) and Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na (2008).
Peepli Live’ shines at Box Office on Opening Day
BNO Desk: Breaking News! Once again, the perfectionist in Bollywood, Aamir Khan got clicked with his own production venture 'Peepli Live'. The movie bagged Rs 70 million at the box office on its release day.
Accor
ding to the Bollywood reports, 'Peepli Live' is sweeping all its contemporaries in a surprising way having no renowned stars except Naseeruddin Shah from single screens.
The movie based on simple solid story about farmer suicides, their humiliation by the politicians, bureaucrats, and media people, taking the actor Aamir Khan without his on-screen presence in the movie to the top.
As Aamir revealed in an interview on yesterday that he was not fit for the role of Natha what Omkar Das Manikpuri plays, the artist really impressed Aamir with his mind-blowing and fantastic performance in the movie.
However, more reports are yet to be revealed for the box office condition of the film on the first week of its release. 'Peepli Live' is the fourth film from Aamir Khan Productions Ltd. after Lagaan (2001), Taare Zameen Par (2007) and Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na (2008).
BNO Desk: Breaking News! Once again, the perfectionist in Bollywood, Aamir Khan got clicked with his own production venture 'Peepli Live'. The movie bagged Rs 70 million at the box office on its release day.
Accor
The movie based on simple solid story about farmer suicides, their humiliation by the politicians, bureaucrats, and media people, taking the actor Aamir Khan without his on-screen presence in the movie to the top.
As Aamir revealed in an interview on yesterday that he was not fit for the role of Natha what Omkar Das Manikpuri plays, the artist really impressed Aamir with his mind-blowing and fantastic performance in the movie.
However, more reports are yet to be revealed for the box office condition of the film on the first week of its release. 'Peepli Live' is the fourth film from Aamir Khan Productions Ltd. after Lagaan (2001), Taare Zameen Par (2007) and Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na (2008).
Sachin graces Aamir's 'Peepli Live' screening
Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar attended the special screening of Aamir Khan's latest flick 'Peepli Live'.
The Indian batting maestro along with wife Anjali Tendulkar graced the occasion. Sachin Tendulkar arrived at Ketnav studio in a black out fit while Anjali was clad in a black top and white trouser.
Sachin Tendulkar arrived in Mumbai on August 8 after Test series in Sri Lanka.
Apart from Tendulkar, several Bollywood fraternity, including Juhi Chawla, Kangna Ranaut, Deepika Padukone, Salman Khan, Sidharth Mallya, Raju hirani, Kiran Rao, Rani Mukherjee.
One of the actors of Peepli live Omkar Das Manikpuri was also present during the screening of film at Ketnav, Mumbai.
The film Peepli Live will hit the silver screen on August 13. Movie's one song Mehngayee Dayan has already gained popularity.
Peepli Live review by critic and Audience
 A STILL FROM THE MOVIE 'PEEPLI LIVE'. MORE PICS  | Critic's Rating: 3.5 Cast: Raghuvir Yadav, Omkar Das Manikpuri, Naseeruddin Shah, Malaika Shenoy, Farrukh Jaffer Direction: Anusha Rizvi Genre: Drama Duration: 1 hour 36 minutes Readers Rating: 4.0  |
More from Peepli Live |
 Trailer |
 Sachin's thumbs up for 'Peepli Live' |
 Peepli Live: Music launch |
 Aamir Khan invites SRK to watch 'Peepli Live' |
Story: Enter Peepli, a small village in the hinterland where a farmer duo, Natha (Omkar Das Manikpuri) and Budhia (Raghuvir Yadav) are struggling to hold on to their land. Threatened by extreme poverty, they fall upon a novel plan. Natha decides to commit suicide to avail of the Rs one lakh compensation package doled out by the government. But before he can do that, the news spreads like wildfire.
The unknown hamlet soon becomes the favourite hunting ground for the voyeuristic news channels, hungry for TRPs, unscrupulous politicians, eyeing their vote banks, fumbling bureaucrats, foxed and clueless about the strange turn of events...Can the farmer's family hope for succour? Is Indiaequipped to handle its swelling population of forgotten and marginalised citizenry? Does Natha survive? Good questions....
Best Reader's Review
Big question: How smart can Indian cinema get? Exhilarating answer: Very smart.
Movie Review: And that's the bottomline of Peepli Live, a small little film, that showcases the real India without glossing over the contradictions of our fumbling-bumbling democracy or getting overtly sentimental about garibi and the attendant grime that goes with it. Refreshingly, the film unfolds like a hard-hitting satire that turns its tongue-in-cheek gaze over almost all that's incongruous in contemporary Indian society: the rural rot, the yawning rural-urban divide, the vote-bank politics, the out-of-sync bureaucracy, the we-give-a-damn political class, the TRP-lusting media and the total insensitivity towards real people, real problems, real solutions for a real India.
So, we get to savour this delightful scene where the caretakers of the Indian state try to prevent Natha's suicide by gifting him a `Lal Bahadur' (read hand pump) without providing for the requisite funds for its fitting. Needless to say, the hand pump lies unused in the destitute farmer's courtyard and doubles up mostly as a plaything for the village urchins. Then again, there's a local politician who tries to gain mileage by gifting him a colour TV, quite like Marie Antoinette's famous blooper: 'If they don't have food, give them cakes!' And finally, there are the state officials who go through their entire gamut of garibi-hatao schemes, only to realise there is nothing tailor-made to prevent a farmer from committing suicide.
All this while hordes of television news channels have descended onto the non-descript village and transformed it into a comedy circus, complete with cameras that intrude right into Natha's house and try to do an expose on his poop as well. It isn't really difficult to recognise the various real-life TV journalists who are good-humouredly spoofed at in Peepli Live. And nobody should actually take offence, because it's all such fun, despite being a serious indictment of India's skewed development schemes.
The high point of the film indeed is its smart and sassy script. But more than all this, it's the life-like portrayals that add a refreshing authenticity to the film. Handpicking the actors mostly from Habib Tanvir's famed Naya Theatre troupe was indeed a coup for debutant director Anusha Rizvi. The show stealers here are Raghuvir Yadav, Omkar Das Manikpuri and Farrukh Jaffer. Jaffer's old and acrimonious mom act is absolutely brilliant, even as Natha's face mirrors the pain, anguish and confusion of a simpleton trapped between the contradictory pulls of a hungry family on the one side and an uncaring state -- and polity -- on the other. The music of the film deserves a special mention, with folksy lyrics and tunes by Indian Ocean, Nageen Tanvir, Brij Mandal and the rest. Just a word of caution: The film does tend to get repetitive midway and the story goes a bit low on the emotional conflict of Natha and his family, leaving them mostly as bystanders in the circus that revolves around them.
But by and large, Peepli Live is a lively and living document on the `other' India, that lives beyond the neon lights and the cruising metros. Another ace up Aamir Khan's sleeve! This time as producer of a film that has loads to say, without being boring and didactic.
The unknown hamlet soon becomes the favourite hunting ground for the voyeuristic news channels, hungry for TRPs, unscrupulous politicians, eyeing their vote banks, fumbling bureaucrats, foxed and clueless about the strange turn of events...Can the farmer's family hope for succour? Is Indiaequipped to handle its swelling population of forgotten and marginalised citizenry? Does Natha survive? Good questions....
Best Reader's Review
5.0one more gift from the perfectionist to all the movie lovers... shrikant kumawat (jaipur) 12/08/2010 at 09:41 pm
Post your Review & Rating
Post your Review & RatingBig question: How smart can Indian cinema get? Exhilarating answer: Very smart.
Movie Review: And that's the bottomline of Peepli Live, a small little film, that showcases the real India without glossing over the contradictions of our fumbling-bumbling democracy or getting overtly sentimental about garibi and the attendant grime that goes with it. Refreshingly, the film unfolds like a hard-hitting satire that turns its tongue-in-cheek gaze over almost all that's incongruous in contemporary Indian society: the rural rot, the yawning rural-urban divide, the vote-bank politics, the out-of-sync bureaucracy, the we-give-a-damn political class, the TRP-lusting media and the total insensitivity towards real people, real problems, real solutions for a real India.
So, we get to savour this delightful scene where the caretakers of the Indian state try to prevent Natha's suicide by gifting him a `Lal Bahadur' (read hand pump) without providing for the requisite funds for its fitting. Needless to say, the hand pump lies unused in the destitute farmer's courtyard and doubles up mostly as a plaything for the village urchins. Then again, there's a local politician who tries to gain mileage by gifting him a colour TV, quite like Marie Antoinette's famous blooper: 'If they don't have food, give them cakes!' And finally, there are the state officials who go through their entire gamut of garibi-hatao schemes, only to realise there is nothing tailor-made to prevent a farmer from committing suicide.
All this while hordes of television news channels have descended onto the non-descript village and transformed it into a comedy circus, complete with cameras that intrude right into Natha's house and try to do an expose on his poop as well. It isn't really difficult to recognise the various real-life TV journalists who are good-humouredly spoofed at in Peepli Live. And nobody should actually take offence, because it's all such fun, despite being a serious indictment of India's skewed development schemes.
The high point of the film indeed is its smart and sassy script. But more than all this, it's the life-like portrayals that add a refreshing authenticity to the film. Handpicking the actors mostly from Habib Tanvir's famed Naya Theatre troupe was indeed a coup for debutant director Anusha Rizvi. The show stealers here are Raghuvir Yadav, Omkar Das Manikpuri and Farrukh Jaffer. Jaffer's old and acrimonious mom act is absolutely brilliant, even as Natha's face mirrors the pain, anguish and confusion of a simpleton trapped between the contradictory pulls of a hungry family on the one side and an uncaring state -- and polity -- on the other. The music of the film deserves a special mention, with folksy lyrics and tunes by Indian Ocean, Nageen Tanvir, Brij Mandal and the rest. Just a word of caution: The film does tend to get repetitive midway and the story goes a bit low on the emotional conflict of Natha and his family, leaving them mostly as bystanders in the circus that revolves around them.
But by and large, Peepli Live is a lively and living document on the `other' India, that lives beyond the neon lights and the cruising metros. Another ace up Aamir Khan's sleeve! This time as producer of a film that has loads to say, without being boring and didactic.
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