Peepli [Live]

Peepli is another piece of magic from Amir Khan Productions. The best part of the movie is that it raises issues without getting melodramatic and preachy like other bollywood stuff. Script is compact and stays true to its story. The story consequently touches your heart, especially 'Hori Mahato',( if anyone has read Premchand's 'Godaan') whose death almost broke me into tears. The scenes are well placed with perfect ensemble of fine actors to play them out. The comic placement makes this movie fun to watch, The characters of English 'know it all' journalist and Hindi reporter are reminiscent of we all know who, politicians and bureaucrats are ridiculously close to what they are in real life, and the village people are as close to reality as i have seen in any Hindi movie till date. Music by Indian ocean and Ram Sampath captures the essence of the movie, the only odd thing is the placement of 'mehngayee... ' song in otherwise flawless movie. i would recommend this movie for everyone...

Anusha Rizvi has a story to tell and she does it all too un-preachily. No sermons. No grandstands. Her narrative, taking care of every nuance, puts the point right across, and manages to move you. She takes a light- hearted approach to a serious issue. The satire, directed at the media and the government, tends to go tad bit overboard, but is hard-hitting and convincing, for most part. Laudable performances by theatre artists Omkar Das Manikpuri as Natha and Raghubir Yadav as Budhia, (Natha's elder brother). A first timer in the Hindi film industry, Omkar Das is sure to take you by surprise. You may not take to him instantly but his childlike vulnerability and subtle ways, win you over, as the story progresses. Be it his tripping in the gobar, or his confiding in Budhia that he doesn't want to suicide, or the tenderness with which he pats the goat, even as he lies cowering from his own set of woes. (Titbit - Apparently, Rizvi spotted Omkar Das at a play in Bhopal. Until then, Amir was suppose to play Natha) Raghubir Yadav is born to act. He emotes flawlessly. One such scene is where he is arguing with Natha over who should suicide. Within a second, he solemnly vows to suicide, all teary-eyed, in the next, he takes a 'relieved' drag off his beedi, having managed to convince innocent Natha to sacrifice his life ;) From the grouchy (yet entertaining) amma (Farookh Zafar), to Natha's nagging wife Dhaniya (Shalini Vatsa); from the B-grade Hindi news channel correspondent Deepak, to the stoic English news channel reporter Nandita (Malaika Shenoy), it's a perfect cast all the way. The film gets drab and predictable in parts but manages to leave an impact, nevertheless!

i cant even though imagine that aamir khan can be involved in such a piece. i give it 3 stars. 1 for aamir 2nd for amma and her abuses and 3rd for uncredited rakesh. a too much disappointing thing was that the death of rakesh was not given any credit. in this scientific world how can you believe that a dead body is wrongly recognized. when i watched the trailers there was no such excitement but when i came to know that mr. perfectionist is also involved then i decided to watch this movie. it was only aamir who made me watch this movie. when rakesh appeared in the movie he was shown an Apache but soon his approach was changed and he became a serious journalist. this was also surprising. another, there was only one death in a huge blast.

I watched the movie Peepli Live today, and it left me disappointed and depressed. I already know the current state of India, how it is soiled in corruption, red tape and dirty politics – what I didn't learn is how can I make a difference… what I, the Common Man of India can do today to ensure a more prosperous tomorrow. The movie had plenty of Masala, its fair share of Profanities (were they trying to say its commonplace in India? – I know that too), lots of humor, pathetic and sorry humor that should make every Indian cry in shame about his country and vow to make a difference. But no, the effect it had on my fellow countrymen was… frantic laughter. Ironic is an understatement for the movie; Tragic is a more apt word. Tragic not because the "big-shot" director Aamir Khan decided to make a film exposing the true face of "Real India, Poor India" (yet again). No, tragic because he made no attempt at encouraging his countrymen to take some action in fixing it. He did a better job encouraging (urging) the youth to take up violent measures, through another of his blockbusters, Rang De Basanti. This movie then must be condemned by fervent nationals the same way Slumdog Millionaire was… only worse… because Slumdog was a Hollywood film, made by a foreigner, who didn't care about his country anyway. No far worse, because Aamir Khan is this self proclaimed activist and catalyst of change, who allegedly vowed to give part of his Taare Zameen Par earnings out as development fund to schools. Not a penny has been received by any school yet, says a friend and senior student of politics, Devendra Pai. It's as simple as this – movies are made to entertain, with a side motive being educating and uplifting the masses. But movies like Peepli Live, that take India's case apart, and that too in a cheeky mockery, must be banned from public broadcast, unless they feature some relief, some take-home for the audience, that they might use as a starting point in overcoming the same painful issues that they have now made a laughing stock of. Undoubtedly, movies direct wandering minds (youths, our country's future), inspire and induce action – and certainly any efforts to exacerbate our country's predicament, through the media or otherwise, must be curbed. (as featured on my personal log http://bit.ly/cucf0M)

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.

Indian Cinema off late has matured and produces a treat now and then. I would reckon this one was not an out of the league project of Aamir Khan but certainly an earnest effort, given that the director is on debut. The film portrays the bitter truth of rural India, mocks the Indian media and gives a tight slap on the political system and bureaucracy. I went to watch the film with the notion that the film belongs to the comedy genre, but it did not take much time for me to realize it was satire, it was pure dark humor and felt pity for all those ignorant souls in the cinema hall who are just so far away, so disconnected from real India that they could afford to laugh on such irony. It sure would have been a wakeup call for those ignorant souls if they understood the hidden satire, carefully wrapped in humor. God save those who came to watch a comic movie and went out of the hall smiling and mocking the plight of Nathu Ram. As far as acting is concerned, Onkar Das has done a very good job, despite the fact that he gets less chance to showcase his dialog delivery yet he has conveyed director's idea marvelously using his expressions. I believe he has surpassed Raghubir Yadav, who has yet again proved the point that he is still among the best in the business. One liners and abusive lashes of Nathu Ram's mother give you some respite from the serious note of the movie. Though the cast had no star power except Naseeruddin Shah and the director was a débutant, Hats Off to Aamir for delivering yet another Thought Provoking and intriguing gem. The movie succeeds in informing the ignorant urban population, population which believes India is prospering, about the truth of real India. Face the reality dude, time to wake up. A definite one time watch.

The most unexpected was the movie's end. It ended? Just like it. Sure, the subject has already been known to the people, so, I think, the movie said (revealed) nothing. News channels' cravings for TRPs; we all know that. Predicament of poor people (particularly farmers under loan) we all know that. Corrupt Politics; again, famous since Independence. Blinkered mindset of people; familiar. Ain't it? So, apart from a nice background score and 'Sakhi Saiyaan', which came out of nowhere and ended abruptly; I couldn't find anything to like in the movie. Has it not been Amir Khan's production; I don't think the movie would endure. I surely doubt that it would make any point; as the whole predicament was presented as jokes. The twist tried at the end, instead of making a happy ending; creates a more negative impact; I mean, was it to show that even family feelings are fleeing from villages; like even moans of bereaved. The end certainly felt like wasted. But hearing the audience laugh all the time over almost all the dialogues (am I puzzled?); enjoying the swearing (laughing on it as well) and then saying that the movie portrayed the real problems of farmers (laughing again!); felt like I'm the odd one in the pack.

Contrary to my gut feeling Peepli Live wasn't too bad a movie to catch , especially when you are looking for entertainment in it's more rudimentary form. Minimalist in her approach, The director of this movie has proved beyond a doubt that melodrama and reality are two very different and hardly reconcilable things. Bare naked in it's projection of Indian Villages, the movie is what Khosla K Ghosla was to the middle class. In fact one feels nauseatic watching those ridiculous 80's 90's flicks where village folk were depicted as specimens from a high end fancy dress exhibition. With damsels wearing mutlicoloured , skimpy clothes and men wearing hideous outfits bearing no similarity whatsoever with the actual village attires. Peepli on the other hand treats everything as it is. The movie is devoid of glamour, any glamour. Which means the movie , given it's theme, is good. There are no subplots which drag the viewer away into romantic liaisons. No sugary silver linings here. The entire cast fits in well with the theme and also makes us wonder as to how can all those Khans, Kapoors , Khannas call themselves actors .I mean the actors in the movie didn't give away anything. The script however was ridden with too many profanities for comfort. The movie could have done without them as well . But that's creative freedom and also gave some folks in the theatre something to cheer about. The movie is good.

If there's one man in India whom we could term as the Godfather of Bollywood it would be Aamir Khan. Aamir's third consecutive blockbuster , Peepli Live is the ultimate mockery of the Indian Press and The Indian Government. It pragmatically shows us the extremes of Political Conflict and Media 'Sensations'. One of The peculiarity of this movie is the consistent and coherent digression from the protagonist's dilemma to other subsidary comic stories that come up. These short comic mockeries work out wonders for Peepli Live. Talking about the acting, i would not think twice before saying that these village actors are better than Bollywood actors who could just go do some Advertisements and forget about movies. Natthu ,the protagonist hardly said a word, yet his expression and acting made him an awe-inspiring character on the screen. Even Rajpal Yadav wouldn't have played this part so well. The last phase of the movie was a bit disappointing as compared to the rest of it. The movie literally portrayed no seriousness and gave no chance for sympathy until the 80th minute. Immediately and abruptly after that , the movie ended with a meant-to-be-disturbing ending which failed to achieve its motive of an instant change in mood of the viewers; abandoning us somewhere between sympathy and humour - just like what happens when you laugh out at a prank played in class and the next movement be punished by your teacher. But never mind, the movie delivered what it had to - it probably taught the Indian government and Press a lesson , and gave them strong reason to be ashamed of themselves. Don't miss this one, you never know, you may not get a movie as good as this one for a decade or so - this is BOLLYWOOD after all.

i went in with loads of expectations.. but unluckily could not get what i thought of. although a good movie but lacks humor and a good story. in showing the realty of India this movie is par excellent. but it could have been better,because aamir is known to make better and legendary movies than this one. a one time watch is must. actors have done their job pretty well and ragubir yadav deserves special accolades. The lady doing the role of amma is a treat to watch in the movie. the film has imitated the ongoing rush for trp's by the media well enough. the fact file presented is also worth applauding. although movie hangs a bit in between but in the second half it takes a good pace. i hope that our politicians can get some lessons out of it.