Peepli Live

Anusha Rizvi proves to be a debutant director whose confidence stems from the trust on her characters. She could have easily resorted to double exploitation, .....exploitation of the sentiments of the audience towards the exploitation of the ever oppressed Indian farmer. Or she could have set the cash registers ringing through mindless comedy, belittling the overused Bollywood-stereotypes, namely the poverty stricken farmer, his ever-wailing wife and the TRP-craving journalist.
Instead she chooses to spice her piece of art in a khatta-meeta style of the local panipuri wala on our roads.

In a time when Bollywood continues to rely on the star power of actors who refuse to acknowledge their limitations of being human, Peeply Live stands out. While in the multiplex, the closest I got to Bollywood (as I have known it all along) was the trailer of Salman Khan starrer, Dabaang minutes before the movie started. In fact every now and then I am forced to get back to the Wikipedia page on Peepli just to get the names of the actors right.

The protagonist, Natha played by Omkar Das Manipuri is the personification of innocence, naivety and congenital poverty. He very easily falls into the trap set by his brother, Budhia. One fine day he declares that he is going to commit suicide in exchange for the “posthumous” remuneration from the Government of India. To his dismay, this sets off a chain of events that draws politicians, the media, shopkeepers and even street circus troops to his cramped household, making his death bell an extravagant celebration. He finally has no option but to abscond, only to land in a similar urban setting.

Budhia never gets any better than his brother in spite of being cleverer than him. He finally ends up as the sole bread winner of the family and gets nothing in exchange for his loss.

Rakesh, the local journalist is the only one who sees the underlying truth. But he has to pay for catalysing the chain reaction that traumatises Natha and his family, with his own life.

The strength of the female characters in the movie was a pleasant surprise. All the three females dominate one man or the other throughout the movie. This is interesting considering the fact that the whole drama is set in rural India, a world where women are not even allowed to have a sense of opinion.

Dhaniya, Natha’s wife starts off with a bang in her first scene by throwing out her husband and brother in law from the house. In spite of incessantly complaining about the state of events and the incompetence of the men of her family, she continues to labour for her children. She does not show an iota of sentiment even after she loses her husband. She is pragmatic enough to think about the posthumous remuneration instead of wailing over the past.

Amma, Dhaniya’s mother in law does not allow her physical constraints to suppress her opinions. Always caught in a feud with her daughter in law, she dares to make her presence felt through sarcastic remarks. The fact that she orders and at times slaps her sons with her skinny palm but only manages verbal duels with her daughter in law, adds to the feministic touch.

Malaika Shenoy plays the convent educated media woman, Nandita Malik. She manages not to become another fictitious stereotypical representation of Burkha Dutt. Nandita exactly knows what she wants to do. Rakesh looks upto her as the ideal journalist. But she is so driven by her need to increase TRPs that she fails to see what Rakesh sees. Her misunderstanding in the climax that Natha is dead is a testimonial to the same.

The unknown farmer who symbolically digs his own grave is a true representation of the plight of millions of men like him. His protruding ribs and fleshless arms do not stop him from labouring his sweat into blood. He is the only one who is not benefited by Natha’s declaration. No one seems to notice his death in spite of the entire media of the Country being stationed in his neighbourhood, ironically expecting the same to happen to Natha.

It is rumoured that Peepli Live was written by Anusha during the peak of farmer suicides in the Vidharbha region. I am not sure if some lives would have been saved if Amir Khan had not pondered so much over its commercial success, but Peepli Live definitely gets its message across.

But as they say Indians seem to be so involved in the present that it loses its sheen as soon as the moment passes. As we moved out the movie hall we overheard two gentlemen. One asked what the time was and the other replied that it is just past mid-night. “Oh, 15th August”, he replied. “Shit,........another holiday lost on a Sunday”, the other complained.