peepli (live)!

'Peepli (live)!’
• much after you have stopped chuckling at the bewildered innocence of the unwilling-to-commit-suicide-farmer, Natha (where did they find such a cute, loveable & perfect Natha?!) ...
• when the laughs have died down, at the wily manipulation, of the cunning & hugely talented Raghuvir Yadav, in nudging his brother to end his life, to make some money....
• jab the gasps, at the ruthless ‘story ke liye saalaa kuchh bhi karega’, attitude of the media are done with ...
• the comic political by play, the treacherous election plots, where each player wants his pound of flesh – (Naseeruddin Shah as usual, outstanding!) – you go past that ...
• that indecisive state of mind, when you don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the media madness, when they are willing to even examine the shit of a human being & do a full piece on it, for TRP’s – after that is over ...
• when enough time has been spent marvelling at the brilliant, spot on casting – the cantankerous, foul mouthed amma, the strong, bitter, tough as nails wife, the hateful, hard female reporter (was I imagining it, or did she have shades of Barkha Dutt!), the Jan Morcha reporter with a conscience ... I could go on & on ....

when this masterpiece of a movie heads towards its morbid climax .... you experience stillness, a sense of restlessness, a deep burden of guilt, at the honest portrayal of the way things are ...

The escapist in me almost craved a happy ending – to subdue that uneasy, queasy weight in my heart, that starkly told that it’s all real, despite the movie beginning with the disclaimer, that this is a piece of fiction!
Kudos to the director, Anusha Rizvi (an ex NDTV product)!

As for the awesome music of Indian Ocean, you barely hear the earthy, rustic, lilting tunes, because they blend so naturally with the surroundings!

Thank-you Aamir Khan – may your tribe increase!!

aisha, apni desi emma!

Jab Shiksha was a baby & I took her out for strolls in her pram, in the pretty little town of Jaipur, I would be stopped by aunty-ji’s, who would coo about how ‘sundar’ the baby was & then look accusingly at me & comment – ‘bilkul tumhaarey jaise nahin lagti!’
Hate to admit, that the aunty-ji’s were right – my suputri looks, talks & behaves like her dad – in rare, saner moments, deep in my heart, I think, ‘Thank-Gawd!’ The world couldn’t have handled two of me!
But there is ‘kuch kuch’ something of me in her – in virasat, I handed down to her, my love & passion for English literature – the world of Jane Austen, Louisa M Alcott, the Bronte sisters ....
That’s the background for the possessive air this maa-beti jodi had, when we went for “Aisha” – fiercely loyal to Jane Austen & uncompromising in our stance, that no one could mess with Emma ...
But a la Vishal Bharadwaj, the master of adaptations from Shakespeare (‘Maqbool’ inspired by “Macbeth” still gives me goose bumps!), the director of the Bollywood ‘Emma’, ‘Aisha’, has achieved the tricky task of capturing the essence of Jane Austen’s masterpiece, but making it her own, with a large seasoning of desi tadka!
Allow this old hag a moment to drool over Abhay Deol – ‘Socha Na Tha’ se “Dev-D’ tak, haven’t missed a movie of this talented actor & must admit, he makes my antique heart skip a beat or two!
Now I know why I agreed to hate ‘I hate luv stories’ – wots a rom-com (romantic comedy!) without sizzling chemistry b/w the lead pair – what was totally lacking in this dismal movie, Sonam Kapur makes up for, with the Deol dude & how!
Our young Jat is charming, understated, doesn’t try to hard & it effortlessly believable as Aisha’s bachpan ka saathi, waiting patiently in the background, for her to grow up & acknowledge her love for him.
Finally Sonam Kapoor delivers – playing the helpless matchmaker, who does more wrong , in trying to be right, shez lovely, funny, natural & likeable!
The to die for, first time in India, ekdum genuine Haute Couture, where Dior, Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuittonn ... casually stroll through Delhi neighbourhoods, transport you to heaven & back!
Some delightful cameos – Lillette Dubey’s daughter as the brutally honest, hip best friend, the young Punjabi kudi, on whom Sonam tries her Professor Higgins transformation, the sweet helpless dad, who tears his hair out at his beti’s extravagant credit card bills, pretty Anooradha Patel, who is back, as the doting Maasi, Cyrus as the devdas who finds his Paro finally ...
Bahut dino baad, music which inspires my criminal mind to actually buy, instead of downloading ,,, Amit Trivedi, will watch out for more of your work!
Warning – “Aisha’ is a metroplex movie – good time pass, very hip & visually, a stunner! An “Omkara” or “Maqbool”, it ‘aint, but it will liven up ur weekend pleasantly!
What can I say – this is a rom-com, chick-flick, book-inspired bhelpuri, which worked for me!