Credited cast: | |||
Omkar Das Manikpuri | ... | Nathadas Manikpuri | |
Raghuvir Yadav | ... | Budhia Manikpuri | |
Shalini Vatsa | ... | Dhaniya N. Manikpuri | |
Farrukh Jaffar | ... | Mrs. Manikpuri / Amma | |
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Malaika Shenoy | ... | Nandita Malik |
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Vishal Om Prakash | ... | Kumar Deepak (as Vishal Sharma) |
Nawazuddin Siddiqui | ... | Rakesh | |
Sitaram Panchal | ... | Bhai Thakur | |
Naseeruddin Shah | ... | Salim Kidwai - Agricultural Minister | |
Aamir Bashir | ... | Vivek | |
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Pravin Singh Sisodia | ... | Gudda Babu |
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
Masood Akhtar | ... | Editor | |
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Maxima Basu | ... | Lady Reporter |
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Sakshi Bhatia | ... | Reporter |
Avijit Dutt | ... | Boss of English TV Channel |
In the lead up to state elections in the Indian village of Peepli, two poor farmers, Natha and Budhia, face losing their land over an unpaid bank loan. Desperate, they seek help from an apathetic local politician, who scornfully suggests they commit suicide to benefit from a government program that aids the families of indebted deceased farmers. When a journalist overhears Budhia urge Natha to "do what needs to be done" for the sake of their families, a media frenzy ignites around whether or not Natha will commit suicide. Written by Sundance Film Festival
Contrary to my gut feeling Peepli Live wasn't too bad a movie to catch , especially when you are looking for entertainment in it's more rudimentary form.
Minimalist in her approach, The director of this movie has proved beyond a doubt that melodrama and reality are two very different and hardly reconcilable things. Bare naked in it's projection of Indian Villages, the movie is what Khosla K Ghosla was to the middle class. In fact one feels nauseatic watching those ridiculous 80's 90's flicks where village folk were depicted as specimens from a high end fancy dress exhibition. With damsels wearing mutlicoloured , skimpy clothes and men wearing hideous outfits bearing no similarity whatsoever with the actual village attires.
Peepli on the other hand treats everything as it is. The movie is devoid of glamour, any glamour. Which means the movie , given it's theme, is good.
There are no subplots which drag the viewer away into romantic liaisons. No sugary silver linings here.
The entire cast fits in well with the theme and also makes us wonder as to how can all those Khans, Kapoors , Khannas call themselves actors .I mean the actors in the movie didn't give away anything.
The script however was ridden with too many profanities for comfort. The movie could have done without them as well . But that's creative freedom and also gave some folks in the theatre something to cheer about.
The movie is good.