Anticipating Peepli Live
In an age when ‘India Shining’ is not only a catchy tagline coined by the ruling party but a fervently believed in mantra for most comfortably middle-class, urban Indians, my man Aamir Khan has done it again—he has defied convention and produced a film about India Whining!
Now, I’ve been saying this for a while: I think Hindi cinema has become quite interesting in the new millennium. Heck yeah. Even K-Jo is making films about divorces and crumbling families these days (albeit unhappy people who look astoundingly attractive, grieving in fluttering chiffons and bustier tops!) But I digress. Realism—as an aesthetic principle, a manner of exploring a carefully selected slice of something perceived to be ‘reality’—has never been the best of friends with our popularcinema. And it is certainly not the only modality via which we can comment on, contemplate and, hopefully, change the world for the better.
Comedy—when done right—can be extremely effective; I’d say even revolutionary. In cinema, in no particular order, think Buster Keaton, Satyajit Ray, Howard Hawks, Mae West, Jean Renoir (my undergrads are always surprised that I believe Rules of the Game is a deeply funny film!) and the great Luis Buñuel, among many others who have pushed us to chuckle thoughtfully. The celebrated prophet of realism in our cinema, Shyam Benegal, has recently made effective forays into comedy in recent years with Welcome to Sajjanpur and Well Done Abba, both charming satires on the often-hilarious vicissitudes of a rapidly modernizing and globalizing India.
Cinema can be comic and realistic simultaneously, with neither mode playing a subordinate role in narrative and or stylisticproceedings.
Aamir Khan tells us that Peepli Live is a satire—effectively a black comedy and a heartbreaking one. The best 
comedies don’t work unless they—on some level—remain saddening, or at the very least unsettling—I’m thinking of Buñuel’s work again, of course. And Nagisa Oshima’s classic Death By Hanging (1968), where a convict sentenced to death refuses to die on the gallows and precipitates a series of crises for harried state officials. It is a very funny and powerfully frightening film all in one. (Note to AK: watch this film if you haven’t already, my friend. You will thank me.)
It exposes the nuts and bolts of the farce that is often state-mandated justice.Aamir has chosen a decidedly unusual plot for Bollywood—farmers being forced into contemplating suicide in order to survive, and the mass media turning the tragedy that besets thousands of lives in rural areas into a spectacular circus that can be enjoyed over bowls of popcorn.
The popcorn munching, Coke guzzling crowd are in the cities of course—spaces where India is shining the most. So, the promos of Peepli Live lead me to believe that this film is also about cities and the rest—perhaps ‘village’ is no longer an applicable word. It is, I’m hoping, about metropolitan spaces and those other ones that are not yet suburbia, places, tongues and people that the city does not have to take into consideration unless television rating points are to be had. I’m also fairly certain that the state and politicians will be portrayed in less than flattering terms. As they should be. The promos of PL also promise other pleasures—an astonishing array of faces, including the coppery, weather-beaten visages of Raghuvir Yadav, Omkar Das and the extravagantly wrinkled, sour-faced Amma. Including new acting hefts from the theatre alongside Naseeruddin Shah, the film should include memorable performances.
From what I can gather, the music is refreshing as well—a canny combination of folk numbers—some of which are sung by Yadav himself—and Indian Ocean’s dulcet, throbbing vocals and bass lines. Yadav also tells us that the music is not simply cosmetic ‘folk’, but retains the earthy soul of the hinterland. Exciting to say the very least. I know plenty about Aamir Khan and absolutely nothing about Anusha Risvi. But I am looking forward to their collaborative effort in Peepli Live.
Peepli Live At A Glance :
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 ‘honour’ but Natha is reluctant. Local elections are around the corner and what might’ve 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 Cast And Crew:
Omkar Das Manikpuri as Natha
Raghubir Yadav as Budhia
Malaika Shenoy as Nandita Mallik
Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Rakesh
Shalini Vatsa as Dhaniya
Farrukh Jaffer as Amma
Vishal O. Sharma as Kumar Deepak
Naseeruddin Shah as Agriculture Minister
Directed by Anusha Rizvi
Produced by Aamir Khan (Aamir Khan Productions)
Kiran Rao
B. Shrinivas Rao
Music :
Mathias Duplessy
Indian Ocean
Release date:
13 August, 2010
The Trailer:
