Opening

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—— Alyce Kills May 24

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—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
100% The Kings of Summer May 31
89% The East May 31

Peepli Live (2010)

tomatometer

100

Average Rating: 6.3/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 0

No consensus yet.

audience

71

liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 2,698

My Rating

Movie Info

A simple man learns he might be better off dead, at least financially, in this satiric comedy from Indian filmmaker Anusha Rizvi. Natha (Omkar Das Manikpuri) and Budhia (Raghubir Yadav) are two brothers who run a family farm in Peepli, a small town in India. Business has been bad on the farm, and the brothers are unable to repay a government loan, with a default judgment due any day. When the brothers call on a local politician to ask if anything can be done while they wait for a judge's ruling

Dec 21, 2010

$0.7M

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All Critics (24) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (20) | Rotten (4)

A fitfully amusing Indian comedy that touches on a hot-button topic.

August 13, 2010 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

You can't decide whether to laugh because the events are so absurd or cry because you can imagine them really happening.

August 13, 2010 Full Review Source: New York Post
New York Post
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I liked Peepli Live, which is colorful and at times quite lively, but I wish it were funnier and its satirical edge a bit sharper.

August 13, 2010 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
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Manages to mine substantial dark humor from this tragic situation while offering pointed -- and sometimes poignant -- social commentary in the process.

August 13, 2010
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Both a heartfelt and a genuinely funny skewering of India's convoluted caste-consciousness.

August 11, 2010 Full Review Source: Time Out New York
Time Out New York
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's an unusual taste of mainstream Indian cinema, unexpectedly irreverent with an earthier, folkier soundtrack than the typical Bollywood electro-bounce.

August 10, 2010 Full Review Source: Village Voice
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A better writer than director, the strength of Rizvi's 'Peepli Live' is the film's unsentimental portrayal of the poor

January 4, 2011 Full Review Source: UR Chicago Magazine

Thousands of poor farmers kill themselves every year in India and it was audacious of writer-director Anusha Rizvi to make a comedy out of the fact with her first film.

September 29, 2010 Full Review Source: This is London
This is London

You can't fault the crusading spirit of this controversial Bollywood satire, just the blunt, one-note, entirely obvious execution.

September 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph
Daily Telegraph

There is a deadly serious message about India's rural/urban divide in first-timer director Anusha Rizvi's satirical gem, but it also happens to have a juicily vulgar streak.

September 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK]
Guardian [UK]

Drawing on India's rural-versus-urban divide, Rizvi spins a dynamic, enjoyably-acted yarn that balances farcical humour with a satisfying seriousness.

September 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Total Film
Total Film

While the tone may shift from satire to farce at times, this is a highly assured debut by Rizvi.

September 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine

It's a worthy film. A little less worthiness and a little more sharply weaponised wit would have helped.

September 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Financial Times
Financial Times

Rizvi keeps the humour broad (this doesn't have the metropolitan sharp sophistication of Chris Morris) but the premise is so strong that pithy satirical points are neatly scored.

September 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Sky Movies
Sky Movies

This is a movie that opens with the hero puking, and spends the rest of its running time showing why that may be the only sane response to the state of the world.

August 19, 2010 Full Review Source: AV Club
AV Club

The juxtaposition of the tragedy and the lunacy of the circumstances are not completely disparate; satire is an appropriate weapon here, but it's the drama in Peepi Live that truly resonates.

August 18, 2010 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine
Boxoffice Magazine

A poignant soaicl satire, with some elements of a funny screwball comedy about contemporary life in India, its greedy media, complex politics, and diverse populace.

August 17, 2010 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

Broad, entertaining satire, with heartfelt pleas, on the difficulties for the farmers and those who try to help them.

August 15, 2010 Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com
Film-Forward.com

Its comical, sharply observant caricatures of India's political and media jackals offers a much-needed reality check in a country where celluloid escapism is too often the rule.

August 11, 2010 Full Review Source: Moving Pictures Magazine
Moving Pictures Magazine

I just wish what [Rizvi] had to tell us about the India of today might have taken a form less distractingly reminiscent of the American classics of yesteryear.

August 11, 2010 Full Review Source: Movieline
Movieline

A satisfying and searing satire on the plight of poor farmers in India and the lack of sympathy or understanding of them by the rich and the powerful who have their own plans for national progress.

August 11, 2010 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice
Spirituality and Practice

Takes a deep look at an everyday tragedy and provides the humorous dimension that underscores the pathos. Who says Bollywood is only interested in lightweight romantic musicals?

August 11, 2010 Full Review Source: East Bay Express
East Bay Express

Audience Reviews for Peepli Live

Right on the line of international/bollywood. Great satire fun comedy better than what we get from hollywood lately.
September 29, 2010
ernest e.
ernest egberink

Super Reviewer

Peepli [Live] is a striking satire on the media-centric world we live in. Funny and sad at the same time, it's a film with a strong voice. The script is crisp and witty, the acting goes well with the rural and earthy feel of the film and does justice to the script.

It's a story about two farmers in rural India, they can't repay the loan they took from the bank and are threatened with losing their land, to avert that an ingenius plan his hatched, one of them will commit suicide. Why? The government compensates the families of farmers who do so. This planned act of 'bravery' gets picked up by a local newspaper and then snowballs into an event of major consequences as other news media rush to cover this unique story. Its election time, the politicians get drawn into the fold, the opposition tries to take advantage of the situation, the incumbent to subvert it. And in the midst of all that the 'brave' man prepared to take his life for his family is forgotten, he is just a pawn in a much larger game.

The film strikes so heavily because even though everything is so surreal, it won't seem too far fetched for them to be actually taking place. No one cares about the poor, the media wants their ratings, the politicians their votes. The people are left to fetch for their own, that's the sad reality of our world and this film captures that perfectly.
May 3, 2013
    1. Deepak: lf you look closely you 'll see Natha's footprints. Whether escape or abduction, here's where Natha perched himself for the last time. And here's the fruit of his toil, his faeces, commonly known as shit. Take a close look. Do not cringe at the sight, for, as long as we live, we will continue to shit. Psychiatrists claim that faeces reflect our mental state. The complexion of our shit is a window to the inner self. But here we see a mixture of hues. Therefore, before reaching any conclusions we need to bring in experts as Mr Natha was no ordinary man. For Bharat Live this is Kumar Deepak, live from Peepli.
    – Submitted by rob g (2 years ago)
    1. Deepak: lf you look closely you 'll see Natha's footprints. Whether escape or abduction, here's where Natha perched himself for the last time. And here's the fruit of his toil, his faeces, commonly known as shit. Take a close look. Do not cringe at the sight, for, as long as we live, we will continue to shit. Psychiatrists claim that faeces reflect our mental state. The complexion of our shit is a window to the inner self. But here we see a mixture of hues. Therefore, before reaching any conclusions we need to bring in experts as Mr Natha was no ordinary man. For Bharat Live this is Kumar Deepak, live from Peepli.
    – Submitted by rob g (2 years ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Live aus Peepli - Irgendwo in Indien (DE)
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