Digvijay and Ridhima's blog

Peepli Live : a ‘Thinking Movie’

August 15th, 2010 | by Ridhima Suri |

Peepli Live is a 1 hour 44 minute sensitive portrayal of the life of an ordinary Indian farmer. It is also a satire on the Indian media and Indian governance.

The movie unfolds to tell the story of two farmers who are unable to pay a bank loan and are forced to have their land auctioned. Somewhere along the line, they get the idea of committing suicide to get compensation for the family and save the land. That’s it. The story of the announced suicide spreads like wildfire and the small village of Peepli becomes a media circus and a hub spot for politicians facing election.

There are 3 issues touched in this movie:

1. Poverty & the life of an Indian farmer
2. Media & the life of media reporters trying to get that novel ‘story’
3. Politicians & the art of pointing fingers and never shouldering responsibility.

Farming & Poverty

Farmers grow crops that feed the rest of the world. However agriculture is dependent on the vagaries of monsoon in India and every year millions of farmers gamble on another unpredictable season. They take loans and if they have a good crop they get by for another year. If there is no yield they end up with a huge debt and face the inevitable : getting food for their families.

Look at the statistics: frustrated by this rut about 8 million farmers quit farming and moved to other professions during the period of 1991-2001 (Census Bureau). About 17,500 farmers killed themselves every year between the period of 2002 and 2006.

Peepli Live is a very thought provoking movie that shows that rapid industrialization has largely ignored the rural areas.  There are incentives & social welfare schemes in place but no one to see if the money is going to the right person and if the incentives are even useful.The protagonist of Peepli Live, Natha declares that he would commit suicide so that his family gets compensation. What happens next?

1. Press reporters throng Peepli. They want to sensationalize the episode. Ironically, they talk to everyone except Natha. They talk to his wife’s sister in law, his mother, his goat, his brother but don’t really care about talking to him.  All they need is a story and they create it out of nothing.  Natha is as good as dead.
2. Politicians throng Peepli too. What do they do? They give a hand pump to him. Does he have money to install the damn thing? No. It just sits in his small hut. Lower caste representatives meet him and give him a television. What should he do with it? There is no electricity. There is no money to get it installed or pay for bills. It is a display for the media and a senseless act. The poor farmer needs money to live. “Woh kya aachar dalega tv ka?” It’s like giving a Prada perfume to a hungry homeless man!
3. Wife bashes husband. Old mother bashes son. Its funny coz the language is very ‘rural’, very ‘rustic’ ! It makes you laugh. It makes you wonder at the plight of family. The moment they step out of the house, there are mikes and cameras in their face. They get threats, advice, and a million questions. They just gape (Natha) or rant (his wife/mother). They are simpletons. All they need is the money. They have no clue of where they have landed.

The climax

The movie promises a message, tons of funny moments and a shocking climax. In the end, everyone heads home leaving Peepli village with hundreds of disposable paper cups!

They came… they conquered… they left. Politicians kept sipping green tea and pointing fingers at others. There was no hand pump installed. There was no compensation for the family. No one learns a lesson and poor farmers continue to die.

It’s a serious movie and many of my friends and family did not like it much. I loved the movie and recommend it to anyone who wants to watch some serious hindi cinema. Go watch it on Independence day and have a ‘real’ taste of India! Everyone portrays a flashy-fancy India nowadays but Aamir Khan takes you into the hut of a dying, starving farmer! Serious stuff.

Great work Aamir Khan & the entire team of Peepli Live. It’s a ‘thinking movie’.

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Tags: Aamir Khan, Hindi Movie, Movie Reviews, Movies, Peepli Live, Peepli Live review