Peepli Live recovers its cost before its release
Made on a budget of approximately INR100 million (including marketing costs), journalist-turned-director Anusha Rizvi’s directorial debut is a satire on the farmers suicides and the subsequent political and media reaction.
It will hit 600 screens in India and 100 in overseas markets, except Britain. “In Britain we have partnered with Artificial Eye (again a first for a Hindi Film) and will release Peepli Live in Britain on September 24,” said a source close to Aamir Khan Productions.
The cast of the film is a mixed bag - many actors are tribals from Bhadwai village in Madhya Pradesh, while other cast members are from late playwright Habib Tanvir’s theatre troupe Naya Theatre, including the main lead Omkar Das Manikpuri, who plays Natha.
The film also stars Naseeruddin Shah, Malaika Shenoy, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shalini Vatsa, Farrukh Jaffer, Vishal O Sharma, Aamir Bashir, Sitaram Panchal and Yugal Kishore.
This is the fourth film from Aamir Khan Productions Ltd after Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001), Taare Zameen Par (2007) and Jaane Tu ... Ya Jaane Na (2008). Khan’s next productions are Delhi Belly and Dhobi Ghaat.
Peepli Live has already earned a reputation for itself in the global film circuit. The movie recently won the Best First Feature Film award at the 31st Durban International Film Festival in South Africa. It was also the first film from India to compete in the Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by specialty German distribution company, Rapid Eye Movies, for a special screening at the Berlin International Film Festival.
The film has also put the spotlight on over 1,000 villages across India that are called Peepli.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 13th, 201.
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