Cast: Omkar Das Manikpuri, Raghuvir Yadav, Shalini Vatsa, Farrukh Jaffer and others
Director: Anusha Rizvi
Rating: ***
"Aamir Khan production hai, achchi toh hogi". This is the common sentiment about Peepli Live. The film, however, just about manages to live up to the hype surrounding it. Really, it's amazing what the media can do.
That's also the story of Natha (Manikpuri) of Mukhya Pradesh's impoverished Peepli gaon. Fearing the loss of his ancestral land for non-repayment of bank loans, elder brother Budhiya (Yadav) persuades Natha to give up his life for the land; rather, to become the beneficiary of a faulty government policy of compensating only dead debt-ridden farmers. Natha's perpetually nagging wife Dhaniya (Vatsa) is majorly unaffected by his decision, in the beginning. Later, she yells and yells ever more convincingly every time we see her.
Local daily Jan Morcha thinks Natha's decision to commit suicide is a big story. Slowly, the national press realises how a live suicide could help TRPs shoot through the roof. With dreams of working with celebrity presenter Nandita (Malaika Shenoy), local stringer Rakesh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), the only journalist with a conscience and in touch with the real issues of rural India, joins hands with a leading English news channel for Natha's story.
Natha now has 24-hour police protection, a Lal Bahadur (hand pump), and a flat-screen TV gifted by the local leader banking on caste-based votes.
Natha is a celebrity now, of a different kind; some want him to commit suicide, some don't, and the media just wants him to do something, anything. Yes, patrakar Kumar Deepak (Vishal O Sharma) even follows Natha to the dumping grounds and produces a story analysing how human excreta can tell what's on one's mind.
Desperation rules the roost here. The scribes are desperate for a scoop, villagers for money, and politicians for votes. The anxiety of the village folk dealing with spiralling prices is evident in Rakesh's shayaris revolving around inflation and Budhiya's 'Mehngai Daayan' song.
For debutante director Anusha Rizvi, Peepli Live is a commendable attempt. The intention is sincere and so is the treatment. So sincere, in fact, that the audience easily notices the flaws, such as the not-so-novel nature of the subject. Telling a poignant story that is the reality of many Indian villages, Rizvi does a good job of putting on the silver screen a burning issue plaguing the farmers of India.
Rizvi's characters and cinematography are her biggest strengths. The casting of the film is perfect, and the performances could be credited to the theatre background of most of the actors. Every actor plays his/her part well. The characters are believable and so are the events.
He does not have too many dialogues, but Manikpuri is naturally convincing as the innocent Natha. Yadav as Budhiya is the true star of the film, as he displays top-class talent. Your heart goes out to the brothers as they dominate much of the first half. Vatsa as the discontented wife plays her part so well, you actually start believing that's how she is in real life.
Apart from the moments involving the press, the toothless and loud Ammaji (Jaffer) gives occasion for quick, unintended humour in the film. You don't understand what she says, but you just know it is nothing good.
Shenoy and Sharma, as the rival news presenters, are commendable and will surely make journalists, who tend to take themselves a bit too seriously, go red in the face. They portray the so-called reality shown on our TV screens as things to be taken with a pinch of salt. That message surprisingly comes through.
The story is a reality in large parts of India, but for that very reason there is nothing new in it. As for the intrusive habits of the media and the government's apathy towards the farm sector, we have all been reading about them for a long time now. The film has its moments of quick, unintended laughs, but as a satire, it succeeds only to an extent.
The dialogue is replete with expletives that don't add much to its quality. The producers could well have bleeped out the swear words and widened the audience which gets sliced because of the film's 'A' certificate.
If you expect producer Aamir Khan to suddenly pop up and brighten the earthy colours of the film, you would be disappointed. But the turn of events in Peepli Live provides full entertainment during the film's running time. Your heart goes out to the aggrieved characters, but you are not moved to take action.
That is the sad part. The filmmakers fail in what they set out to do: sensitise viewers towards the issue of farmer suicides. One actor even exhorted people not to watch the film only for entertainment. But that's all you end up doing as the 'message' is not hard hitting enough. That's probably because you get caught up in the media circus, just like Natha.