Movie Review: PEEPLI [Live]

56.48 % 43.52 %

Characters:



Omkar Das Manikpuri: Natha

Omkar Das Manikpuri belongs to the state of chattisgarh, in Central India. He started his career as a performer in the local form of folk theatre called Nacha. Performing often in makeshift and open air stages, he honed his skills as a singer, dancer, mimic and a standup comic. Afterwards he joined Naya Theatre as an actor. With them he has performed, in India and abroad, such timeless classics as Agra Bazaar, Charandas Chor and Sadak. Peepli Live is his first feature film.



Raghubir Yadav: Budhia

Raghubir Yadav is one of India's leading art house actors and a highly gifted musician. At the age of 15 he an away from home and joined the Parsi Theatre Company, Bombay. He later moved to Delhi, where he joined the National School of Drama (NSD). In his stage career as an actor and singer he has performed in over 70 plays and about 2500 shows. Massey Sahib(1985) was his first feature film for which he won the FIPRESCI CRITIC's AWARD, Venice Film Festival, 1986, and the BEST ACTOR SILVER PEACOCK, IIFI, 1987. Three films that he has acted in have received Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Film (Salaam Bombay, Lagaan and Water). He was the first actor to be cast in Peepli Live. He has also sung for the film.



Malaika Shenoy: Nandita Mallik

Malaika Shenoy is a Mumbai-based model, actor and voice-over artist. She has anchored and hosted many programs on Indian television and has appeared in a number of advertisements. She won the Best Actress Abby at the 2003 Indian Advertising Awards for Toshiba. Her experience as a TV presenter came in very handy for this film where she appears as a star reporter and presenter. She is also a part of the vibrant English theatre movement in Bombay and has appeared in two independent feature films prior to Peepli Live.



Shalini Vatsa: Dhaniya

Shalini Vatsa holds an M.Phil degree in Political Science from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, As an actor she has worked with various acclaimed Indian theatre directors such as Habib Tanvir, Barry John, B. V. Karanth and has performed all over India and abroad. She also trained with Barry John for Theater in Education and worked with children across different sections of society including those with physical and learning disabilities of Habib Tanvir'sNaya Theatre repertory and plays, leading role in plats like Zahreeli Hawa, Charandas Chor andA Midsummer Night's Dream,. Peepli Live is her first feature film.



Farrukh Jaffer: Amma

Farrukh Jaffer has been a radio actor, announcer and film and television actor in a career that has spanned over five decades. She started her career in Lucknow, in Northern India, with radio plays, and diversified into broadcasting, writing and comparing radio programs. She appeared in two feature films before Peepli Live. An Urdu scholar as well as an expert on proverbs, idioms and phrases of rustic speech, Jaffer proved to be a great asset for Amma's role. She was the final lead actor to be cast for the film and was selected after nearly a 100 auditions in many different cities.



Nawazuddin Siddiqui: Rakesh

Nawaz Siddiqui is a graduate from The National School of Drama, New Delhi. He did theatre for many years before he started working in films. He has worked with several acclaimed and award-winning directors in India. Peepli Live is his first leas role in a film. Hailing from a small town in Northern India, he was able to pitch the character to near perfection.



Vishal O Sharma: Kumar Deepak

Vishal O Sharma is a Mumbai-based television and film actor who has appeared in a number of mainstream Hindi films. A self-trained actor, he was born in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, and moved to Kota in Rajasthan. Sharma's gift for improvisation proved very useful for his role as an ambitious and unscrupulous reporter in the film Peepli Live is his first major movie role.



Synopsis



Natha a poor farmer from Peepli village in the heart of rural India is about to lose his plot of land due to an unpaid government loan. A quick fix to the problem is the very same government's program that aids the families of indebted farmers who have committed suicide. As a means of survival Farmer Natha can choose to die!!! His brother is happy to push him towards this unique 'honor' but Natha is reluctant. Local elections are around the corner and what might've been another unnoticed event turns into a 'cause celebre' with everyone wanting a piece of the action. Political bigwigs, high-ranking bureaucrats, local henchmen and the ever-zealous media descend upon sleepy Peepli to stake their claim. The question on everyone's lips - "Will he or Won't he?" As the mania escalates what will be the fate of Farmer Natha; nobody seems to care how he really feels?