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    Peepli (Live)

    Reviewed by
    arshadfilms@

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    'Peepli Live' is a brilliant first feature by the talented Anusha Rizvi and produced by big Indian film industry names like Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao and Ronnie Screwvala. Made in the tradition of the 'nautanki' style (folk theater or operatic drama), 'Peepli' is a salt-of-the-earth style comedy about serious social issues facing India today. The slow pace of the action leaves regular 'Bollywood' junkies dissatisfied. However, Peepli is essential viewing for those desirous of the 'real' India. The India where there is a rigid structure of class that is only exacerbated by the arrival of technology and media. Omkar Das Manikpuri plays the witless Natha, (the farmer about to commit suicide because he was unable to pay his bank loan) and Raghubir Yadav plays his wittier brother Budhia. Rizvi has written a very clever story that is at once a sharp critique of the Indian political establishment as well as the cow-towing media and its sensationalism. The film also highlights the brutal and critical issues facing farmers from the likes of powerful IMF and World Bank supported corporations like Sonmanto (actually Monsanto) which buy out the politicians and change laws in order to weaken the social infrastructure of Indian farming society.'Peepli (Live)' is the antithesis of Bollywood. Whereas Bollywood takes a select few and highlights India's 'whiteness' through manufactured representations, 'Peepli' takes the masses and highlights their Indian-ness.'Peepli' shows what Indians really look like. It shows their wrinkles, their tiredness, their happiness, their brightness- all without the glitz and glamour of Bollywood. It humanizes India and every wrinkle on the frail and elderly farmer's face (the one digging his own grave) speaks volumes without the farmer ever uttering a word. The West clearly realizes the errors of technology and industrialization; the BP Gulf oil spill being a case in point. 'Peepli' documents the struggle Indian farmers are facing and highlights the plight of the farming community in the face of great corporate and government pressure. There are lessons to be learned from capitalist corporate peddling and 'Peepli' is a wakeup call. 'Peepli' is reviving the tradition of nautanki and bringing back the truth to the world about the suffering of the masses and the humanity of the people of India. The viewer comments have been disheartening because as usual the masses going to cinemas are used to the formula flick and editing tricks that quench their thirst for sensationalism. 'Peepli' critiques this very need for the sensational over the real and puts the audience in the uncomfortable position of self-reflexivity and self-examination. There is a poignant scene where one of the television crews is examining the farmer's excrement which directly challenges the viewer to examine the depths that we will descend to in order to get a good scoop. I really enjoyed 'Peepli' and hope to see more though-provoking independent Indian cinema. I can't wait to see what Rizvi does next.

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    arshadfilms@  17.8.2010 age: 36-49 81 reviews

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