![]() 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. ![]() ![]() 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. Just to get a chance at exclusivity with Naatha (Omkar Das Manikpuri) and brother Budhia (Raghubir Yadav) who seemed the smarter of the two. 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. They poke their noses everywhere, and when things turn dull, even resort to fabrication or plain making a mountain out of a molehill. 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. Which more mainstream films like Rann and Raajneeti would have also touched upon, but minus the heartfelt comedy that this satire brought along. ![]() ![]() 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. 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. 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. ![]()
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