Peepli Live

It was with great trepidation that I started watching the movie " Peepli Live". I had read that its a movie by Aamir Khan on farmer's suicides. I thought to myself "thats it !!!" it must be a depressing movie like in the the bad old days of the fiftees and sixties. Scenes of famine, starvation, bankruptcy, pawn brokers hassling farmers and finally farmers committing suicides.

Why bring reality into my bedroom. I preferred watching light hearted comedies, sitcoms, sports etc. I didn't wanna shed tears and remember my own financial woes.

Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised. Aamir did a "Aamir" on us. It was a spoof on all present day movers and shakers. He spoofed the media, politicians, bureaucrats and all the holy cows of the Indian ethos. There were no scenes of heart rending grinding poverty, instead it was a delightful comedy on the rabid media, crass politicians and indifferent bureaucrats. And oh yes the farmers were mere bystanders as the manipulative and conniving milked the situation for all it was worth.

I will not go into the storyline, theme or any philosophical review, I would just like to say that Aamir must be laughing all the way to the bank.

I also read in the newspapers that our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was shown the movie at a special preview privately for him, his family and some special invitees. I suppose they too were worried as how their kin would be portrayed albeit as heartless manipulative Machiavellian politicians, leaving helpless farmers to their unfortunate and inevitable dishonorable hara kiri.

After seeing the movie Iam sure they must be secretly laughing to themselves and the PM thankful that the movie is not going to create any social upheavals.

However my dissenting note is that it has trivialized the tragedy of farmers suicide by making it a farce and finally the story line is a plagarizaton being a clean lift from Frank Capra's 1941 movie called "Meet John Doe". (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033891/).