There are two different India that inhabit the bosom of my country, the one we call India where I reside, with it's 24 hour Internet Services, Credit Card Services, Anytime Banking, Malls and all other facilities - then there is the other India, also called as Bharat, whose limits start within India itself and go on deepening as we recede from the neon lights of the cities and move to the moonlight of the interior... This India has not even heard of the internet, does not know the meaning of the word 'Credit', has not seen a well-functioning bank and only knows malfunctioning tractors and has no idea of malls.... Strange as it seems to people living in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata, such an India does exist ... but then we are so used to our own comforts, where do we have the time to observe an India that's so different from us!
Today is the 61th Anniversary of our Republic Day ... on 26 January 1950, we bequeathed to our selves a constitution that remains the pride of every Indian .... but there is a lot in India that needs to be looked at carefully if we intend this pride to remain constant forever.... today, on the occasion of the Republic Day, I would like to move beyond India and speak of a beautiful film from Bharat that made me think of the differences between the two...
Anusha Rizvi's Peepli Live is one of the few films that have taken a very interesting and satirical take on the problem of farmer suicides that has become endemic in Bharat..... Banks loan money to farmers for seeds and other implements at very high, exorbitant rates; the farmer (even after 64 years of independence) depends on the rains for a good crop that mostly fails, fails in re-payment of the loans, the loan-sharks start attaching properties and enforcing payments leading to more destitution among the farmers finally leading to a cycle of debts to pay up debts an often ends into Suicides..... the perfect example of Chakravyuh in today's world..... The nation has so far failed to alleviate the concerns of the farmers and have left them to die in their own misery.... Despite being a topical issue, no other filmmaker had dared take an interest in the subject and hence Peepli [Live] has a fresh look to it's recipe....
The film works brilliantly due to an excellent directorial effort by Anusha - the excellent performances by the ensemble cast - specifically Raghubir Yadav and Omkar Das Manikpuri who play the roles of the two debt-ridden brothers who have failed in their attempt to save their farms from the Loan Sharks....
Omkar Das (as Natha), a new find as the younger brother, is exceptional in his use of body language and eloquent use of Silence as he tries to find out his way from the melee created by the entire episode..... Raghubir Yadav, complements him fully as the elder brother, who can go to any extent to clear the debt but had not bargained to see the extent of uproar it could create.... The film primarily works on the brilliant and exceptional chemistry shared by the two brothers.... The pain of penury, the fear of loss and the expectations and hopes of a better future - a future that is dependent on the death of the dreamer is dark and requires a lot of effort on the part of the actors and the director... Needless to say, it comes out well....
The character of the nagging wife played by Shalini Vatsa is so true to form that I could remember a person I met when I used to visit villages for my Social Service Classes in College... And her interactions with her mother-in-law make for some interesting observations in the saas-bahu saga (Ekta Kapoor, are you listening?)
The 'tamasha' called the press has also been very-well depicted .... like Rann earlier in 2009 but in more deeper shades, the business of creating news has been laid threadbare for our inspection.... Nandita, the hoi-polloi big newscaster from ITVN is one of the best and most professional presentation of the breed on cinema. Nandita is from the big city and couldn't care less for the problems of Natha and his family - what she wants from the entire game is TRP ratings for her company and her career.... Malaika Shenoy brings a natural colour to the proceedings with her effortless performance... Pitted against her, as the Hindi Correspondent and Master Manipulator, is Deepak (Vishal O Sharma), a correspondent who is a reporter by profession but actually a propagandist by nature for the Ruling Party.... the divide between the regional and the English Channels is beautifully laid bare.... the fight for TRP and the fall from exalted standards to garner those TRP is so well depicted that beyond a limit, the crassness of the spectacle makes you revolt rather than laugh at them.....
And in between the two is Rakesh, a small-town reporter who dreams to make it big in the world of News, but who still seems to have some conscience - a man who actually senses the story before anyone else does and then tries to retain the human angle and the reporter's values as everything around him seems to crash down.... He is that rare breed of reporters that no longer exist; the last of those for whom reporting news was about the human aspect primarily and its fitting that he should die unknown and unsung while the paragons of what make news today live on to tell their story..... Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays the role with a real heart...
Interestingly, in a movie of such an anti-establishment nature, leaders and politicians are often lampooned to such an extent that they end up as caricatures of the community. However, Peepli [Live] treats them with the respect of position and at the same time does not stop from hitting out a few lusty blows to the fraternity..... However, I think this aspect of the movie is on the whole not-as-convincing as the others....
The music is rustic and carries the charm of a full-throated, deep-chested, uncaring attitude.... the song 'Maare Saaiyan To Khub Hi Kamaat Hain' is such a beautiful gem that I cannot stop humming the song ..... It's just too good and Raghuvir Yadav sings with the lusty overtones of an intrepid singer, making it more melodious and effervescent.... the magic of the song lies in it's melody - simple and straight.... Maybe that's what is lacking in all the Sheelas and Munnis of the day....
A brilliant movie, which needs to be seen to be believed and a question that needs to be asked... How long will this state continue? How long can the country allow such a schizophrenic attitude to something as dangerous as this?
It's time for answers.... or else Natha will keep on dying and we will, to save our faces, keep on lying.... but that won't help because the Truth is out there and Truth will forever remain out there....
Today is the 61th Anniversary of our Republic Day ... on 26 January 1950, we bequeathed to our selves a constitution that remains the pride of every Indian .... but there is a lot in India that needs to be looked at carefully if we intend this pride to remain constant forever.... today, on the occasion of the Republic Day, I would like to move beyond India and speak of a beautiful film from Bharat that made me think of the differences between the two...
Anusha Rizvi's Peepli Live is one of the few films that have taken a very interesting and satirical take on the problem of farmer suicides that has become endemic in Bharat..... Banks loan money to farmers for seeds and other implements at very high, exorbitant rates; the farmer (even after 64 years of independence) depends on the rains for a good crop that mostly fails, fails in re-payment of the loans, the loan-sharks start attaching properties and enforcing payments leading to more destitution among the farmers finally leading to a cycle of debts to pay up debts an often ends into Suicides..... the perfect example of Chakravyuh in today's world..... The nation has so far failed to alleviate the concerns of the farmers and have left them to die in their own misery.... Despite being a topical issue, no other filmmaker had dared take an interest in the subject and hence Peepli [Live] has a fresh look to it's recipe....
The film works brilliantly due to an excellent directorial effort by Anusha - the excellent performances by the ensemble cast - specifically Raghubir Yadav and Omkar Das Manikpuri who play the roles of the two debt-ridden brothers who have failed in their attempt to save their farms from the Loan Sharks....
Omkar Das (as Natha), a new find as the younger brother, is exceptional in his use of body language and eloquent use of Silence as he tries to find out his way from the melee created by the entire episode..... Raghubir Yadav, complements him fully as the elder brother, who can go to any extent to clear the debt but had not bargained to see the extent of uproar it could create.... The film primarily works on the brilliant and exceptional chemistry shared by the two brothers.... The pain of penury, the fear of loss and the expectations and hopes of a better future - a future that is dependent on the death of the dreamer is dark and requires a lot of effort on the part of the actors and the director... Needless to say, it comes out well....
The character of the nagging wife played by Shalini Vatsa is so true to form that I could remember a person I met when I used to visit villages for my Social Service Classes in College... And her interactions with her mother-in-law make for some interesting observations in the saas-bahu saga (Ekta Kapoor, are you listening?)
The 'tamasha' called the press has also been very-well depicted .... like Rann earlier in 2009 but in more deeper shades, the business of creating news has been laid threadbare for our inspection.... Nandita, the hoi-polloi big newscaster from ITVN is one of the best and most professional presentation of the breed on cinema. Nandita is from the big city and couldn't care less for the problems of Natha and his family - what she wants from the entire game is TRP ratings for her company and her career.... Malaika Shenoy brings a natural colour to the proceedings with her effortless performance... Pitted against her, as the Hindi Correspondent and Master Manipulator, is Deepak (Vishal O Sharma), a correspondent who is a reporter by profession but actually a propagandist by nature for the Ruling Party.... the divide between the regional and the English Channels is beautifully laid bare.... the fight for TRP and the fall from exalted standards to garner those TRP is so well depicted that beyond a limit, the crassness of the spectacle makes you revolt rather than laugh at them.....
And in between the two is Rakesh, a small-town reporter who dreams to make it big in the world of News, but who still seems to have some conscience - a man who actually senses the story before anyone else does and then tries to retain the human angle and the reporter's values as everything around him seems to crash down.... He is that rare breed of reporters that no longer exist; the last of those for whom reporting news was about the human aspect primarily and its fitting that he should die unknown and unsung while the paragons of what make news today live on to tell their story..... Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays the role with a real heart...
Interestingly, in a movie of such an anti-establishment nature, leaders and politicians are often lampooned to such an extent that they end up as caricatures of the community. However, Peepli [Live] treats them with the respect of position and at the same time does not stop from hitting out a few lusty blows to the fraternity..... However, I think this aspect of the movie is on the whole not-as-convincing as the others....
The music is rustic and carries the charm of a full-throated, deep-chested, uncaring attitude.... the song 'Maare Saaiyan To Khub Hi Kamaat Hain' is such a beautiful gem that I cannot stop humming the song ..... It's just too good and Raghuvir Yadav sings with the lusty overtones of an intrepid singer, making it more melodious and effervescent.... the magic of the song lies in it's melody - simple and straight.... Maybe that's what is lacking in all the Sheelas and Munnis of the day....
A brilliant movie, which needs to be seen to be believed and a question that needs to be asked... How long will this state continue? How long can the country allow such a schizophrenic attitude to something as dangerous as this?
It's time for answers.... or else Natha will keep on dying and we will, to save our faces, keep on lying.... but that won't help because the Truth is out there and Truth will forever remain out there....
