India sir yeh cheez dhoorundar – sadly!

In 1936, Munshi Premchand, un-arguably India’s one of the finest writers wrote Godaan (The gift of a cow). With incisive clarity he portrayed the deprivation of basic human rights (to live) of the Indian farming class in the colonial rule. The feudal and cultural exploitation leads Hari, the peasant in the novel to long for a cow (representing prosperity and wealth), get it at the cost of his life and finally get it sacrificed for his absolution. After more than seven decades, an Independence, a telecom boom and bulging Indian economy, probably every Indian village still has a Hari. This is how Anusha Rizvi’s Peepli Live (2010, producer: Aamir Khan) sized up India. Do we disagree, we dare not much. There are pro-biotics who will argue that India emerged leaps and figures ahead of many other contending nations – not only in technology but also in the general living index of the different stratum of her land. However, as we all know statistics is only to prove or disprove one’s stance. The relative truth however still remains – nearly 2 lakh farmers in India took their lives to escape debt and depression from 1997 till 2007 (refer The Largest Wave of Suicides in History by P. Sainath, February 12, 2009, website accessed on 30^th August 2010 - http://www.counterpunch.org/sainath02122009.html) and the end of the film where the screen informs the audience "8 million farmers quit agriculture in India between 1991 and 2001".

            Peepli Live brings to fore an unidentified village of India in the fictitious state of Mukhya Pradesh where two brothers Natha and Budhia plan to commit suicide since they cannot repay the loan from the loan-tender in time. But that is not out of frustration only. They have heard somewhere that the Indian Govt. pays compensation to the family of the victim – which means if the younger Natha commits suicide, atleast the elder Budhia can save the land of their ancestors after getting the compensation! In-fact the opening scene of the film is shot with the camera at an extreme close-up on the face of a man running – no not for his life, but to catch a vehicle that will take him to the place where his land is to be auctioned for non-payment. With this very first shot, the film falls in the right trajectory wherein every action, every night’s dream of the peasants of large part of India is smeared with the nightmare of having to live for another day. The saga that unfolds hence has everyone you can think of – media fight (vernacular vs English as well as urban vs rural), politician’s endless and mindless games, and Governance’s complete nonchalance towards those it is vowed to serve.

            The basic framework of the story of a country person meeting the headlines of the newspapers nationwide and sharing the media time with celebrities alike is however not a new concept. In Hollywood we have seen Meet John Doe, A face in the crowd and Swing vote to name a few. However Peepli Live scores above them to an Indian audience for being authentic and true to it’s India spirits and for being original in its exposition of dirt and filth that gather beneath our polished skin. Remember, the director had taken in a big team – multiple plots, quick turn of events, deft inter-cuts leading to a pace that seldom makes the film look sag. One criticism which can be attributed here is the sudden plurality of events which may tend to distract the viewer’s attention off Natha, the unfortunate victim of middle and upper-class ‘game’ show. So the satire hurled at media and the politicians tend to become self-reflective, a bit. But, only a bit. We can probably ignore this as a technical drawback since the director had to squeeze in this tale in two hours time and still keep the interests alive.

            There are moments which standout amongst others as beads of a necklace crafted by the director herself. One such is when the English TV channel’s sleek reporter in her bid to empathize with Natha and to clear off his fears for the TV camera looming all over his hut, comments "Don’t be afraid. This camera cannot do anything” only to be proved wrong soon after when hoards of TV crew literally flocked over Natha’s hut and the village. In another sequence, the Agricultural minister in a bid to intervene (unwillingly) asks his subordinate to pass on to Natha an ‘Indira Awas’, or a 'Jawahar Rozgar’, or an ‘Annapoorna’. The names of these government grants in the names of the politicians seem farcical since they seldom reach the intended. The IAS officer then tells the minister that all these grants are for the homeless, the unemployed or the starving! Why? Because, he adds, “Central government schemes don't cover farmers who are still alive. They only cover those dead!” Earlier, the local MLA ordered to deliver a ‘Lal Bahadur’ to Natha – a ‘Lal Bahadur’ is a grant of a tube-well to a dying farmer!  In a subplot we find one strikingly malnourished farmer Hari Mahato (cannot miss the reference from Godaan) who digs rough patches of earth and sells to brick-makers. In a sudden correlative surge we can link the rural to the urban India here – the rural providing food to the urban had been obvious, the rural providing earth (and hence brick) to the rapidly developing urban multiplexes and skyscrapers is not so apparent generally. This metaphor is stunning in its sublime exposition of labour drain of a different complexion.

The film’s raw freshness emanates from the rustic look that the camera successfully imbues. This is primarily due to the natural rural dialects of the script and some powerful acting. Even producer Aamir Khan admits – ‘I’ll vote for the film’s unusual casting among several other important factors. The cast is what makes this film real and effective.’ (refer http://spicezee.zeenews.com/articles/story68768.htm accessed on 30th August 2010). As we have seen over the years, whatever Aamir touches turn to gold. Be it he as the actor, the director or as the producer. Here also, with such an unconventional theme with no stars to fall back upon, the film has become a hit. Hitting over 600 screens on release, the film already recovered its investment of Rs 100 million by selling its satellite rights for the same amount even before its official release on 15^th August 2010 (refer http://ibnlive.in.com/news/peepli-live-recovers-cost-even-before-release/128698-8-66.html?from=tn accessed on 30^th August 2010).

There had been several films made on the Indian soil, about India or her people which have tried to focus the different aspects of her staggering diversity. It will be difficult to iconize ‘India’ into some simple and straight-forward markers – poverty, majestic festivals, urban youth, NRI sentiments, so on and so forth. That too cut across different cultures with numerous languages and dialects. It will be unfair to expect one single film to deal with all these. What is essentially important then is to take a leaf out of this oeuvre and present it honestly and realistically. The success of Peepli Live is in its strong commitment towards this basic premise. That is the reason Natha and his fellow villagers are so remorseless, their life divided between idling and waiting for rain. Their eyes are dead of any excitement and yet, they are not too worried or unhappy the way we, the middle-class city-bred ‘intelligentsia’ want them to be.

The main difference of this film with another satire of not so long ago Well done Abba (dir:Syam Benegal, 2009) or many others is the way it involved us, the urban viewers as well. For long we have seen the ‘good’ and the ‘ugly’. But what are we, where do we actually belong in this milieu? We have long severed our roots with the poor rural class and we have dissociated us from the errant and corrupt politician-Governance nexus as well. We were free to laugh at everyone in Peepli Live. But in turn we have to laugh at us as well, in our shadowy existence of unnatural fears and accomplishments. Anusha Rizvi has the magic to make ourselves feel guilty after a long time within the confines of posh multiplexes.