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Release Date: 24 September 2010

Both funny and sobering….all aspects of the production make Peepli Live a satisfying comic gem – The Hollywood Reporter

Debuting writer-director Anusha Rizvi manages to wrest a lively feature out of a gravely serious issue…without losing sight of the entertainment principle – Variety

…a bawdy take on the rural class struggles…scripted with raunchy wit and superbly acted – Screen International

India’s most celebrated actor, filmmaker and Academy Award-nominee Aamir Khan (Lagaan, Ghajini, 3 Idiots) is delighted to introduce Peepli Live, a farcical contemporary comedy set in Bharat in rural India.

Written and directed by Anusha Rizvi and co-directed by Mahmood Farooqui, the film, which is produced by Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao with co-producer Ronnie Screwvala, tells the story of Natha (Omkar Das Manikpuri), an impoverished farmer who learns of a government scheme to aid the families of indebted farmers if they commit suicide and thus decides on a very drastic plan to save his land from repossession.

The film also stars Raghubir Yadav (Salaam Bombay, Lagaan, Water) whose feature film debut Massey Sahib won him the Fipresci Critic’s Award at the Venice Film Festival; as well as model, actor and television presenter Malaika Shenoy, Shalini Vatsa, Farrukh Jaffer, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Vishal O Sharma.

Natha is a poor farmer who is about to lose his plot of land due to an unpaid government loan. Ironically, the same government scheme also financially compensates the families of desperate farmers who have committed suicide. The answer is simple: either he or his brother Budhia (Raghubir Yadav) will kill themselves and all their problems will be over!

Unfortunately for the hapless Natha, who finds himself reluctantly agreeing to the sacrifice, the reality isn’t quite so appealing. Local elections are around the corner and what should be just another unfortunate incident, turns into a ‘cause célèbre’ with everyone wanting a piece of the action. Political bigwigs, high-ranking bureaucrats, local henchman and the ever-zealous media descend upon sleepy Peepli to stake their claim. The question on everyone’s lips is “will he or won’t he?”

Aamir Khan reflects: In the year 2004-2005, I was shooting a film called Mangal Pandey, also called The Rising. While I was working on this film, I kept being pestered by some girl called Anusha Rizvi to read her script. I don’t usually like to look at scripts but this time for some unknown reason I decided to give it a shot. So, I called her and she read out her script to me. From the time that the narration began I was drawn into it. I found it to be very funny and at the same time very heartbreaking. Very engaging, entertaining and enlightening, but a very unusual script for Indian cinema. In other words, it was right up my street. Anusha and her team have done a superb job of putting on screen what was on paper and I am very happy and proud to be associated with such a fine film – Peepli Live”.

This is writer-director Anusha Rizvi’s first feature film. She studied History of Art at St Stephen’s College, Delhi and Human Rights at the Jamia University, Delhi. She has worked as a television producer for four years at New Delhi Television. Over the past five years she has helped revive ‘Dastangoi’, the dead art form of storytelling in Urdu. Peepli Live was the first Indian film to be shown in the World Cinema competitive section at the Sundance Film Festival 2010. Peepli Live was also showcased at the Berlin International Film Festival 2010. Aamir Khan Productions and UTV have produced Peepli Live, Artificial Eye will distribute Peepli Live in UK.