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(aka "Peepli Live" )
directed by Anusha Rizvi and Mahmood Farooqui
India 2010
On the verge of losing their
family farm to the bank, brothers Budhia (Raghuvir Yadav,
1942: A LOVE STORY) and Nathas (Omkar Das Manikpuri,
MONSOON SHOOTOUT) learn that the families of farmers who
have committed suicide are compensated with 100,000 rupees.
With his invalid mother (Farrukh Jaffar), Nathas' harridan
wife Dhaniya (Shalini Vatsa), and his two children to
consider, Nathas decides he will be the one to commit
suicide. When ambitious reporter Rakesh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui,
NEW YORK) overhears Nathas' plans in the village and
impulsively prints the story in the paper, he and his editor
(Masood Akhtar, CITY OF JOY) are reprimanded and
their paper loses its news license; however, the story
reaches the ears of ITVN Delhi news anchor Nandita (Malaika
Shenoy, OFFSHORE) who contacts Rakesh and shows up in
Peepli with a news crew. The story proves damaging to Chief
Minister Ram Yadav (Yugal Kishore) who is basing his
upcoming election campaign on the prosperity of farmers, and
he presses tries to quench the bad publicity through
ineffectual aide programmes (the local magistrate presents
Nathas with a water pump, but no funds or labor to have it
installed) and local bigwig Bhai Thakur (Sitaram Panchal,
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE) uses force to silence Nathas
and Budhia; however, Yadav's local opponent Puppulai - the
so-called "Messiah of the Backward Castes" - wants to hold
Nathas and his suicide up as a symbol of the ruling party's
failures (and proves to be just as out of touch by gifting
Nathas a television, even though they have no electricity).
ITVN's rival station anchor Deepak (Vishal Sharma) also
heads down to Peepli with an interest in televising a live
suicide, and is followed by a horde of reporters who turn
the village into a media circus (which actually proves
profitable to the locals). Yadav and Puppulai form an
alliance and try turning the blame to the federal
government's agricultural ministry and minister Salim (Naseeruddin
Shah,
MONSOON WEDDING), who has been trying to pass off a
great number of the farmer suicides as natural deaths.
Meanwhile, Bhai Thakur is beginning to feel edged out by
Yadav's alliance, and decides to play both sides by
threatening Nathas that he better follow through with the
suicide while telling the media that the government cannot
sit back and let this happen. When Nathas mysterious
vanishes, the media is rife with speculations of cowardice
on Nathas' part, government conspiracies, Islamic
terrorists, or American covert intervention, and whether
Nathas ends his life or not may no longer be his decision. |
Posters
Theatrical Release: 13 August 2010 (India)
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DVD Comparison:
UTV Motion Pictures - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Artificial Eye - Region 0 - PAL
Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for all the Screen Caps!
(UTV Motion Pictures - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Artificial Eye - Region 0 - PAL - RIGHT)
DVD Box Covers |
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Distribution |
UTV Motion Pictures Region 0 - NTSC |
Artificial Eye Region 0 - PAL |
Runtime | 1:49:56 | 1:43:48 (4% PAL speedup) |
Video |
1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate:
UTV Motion Pictures
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Bitrate:
Artificial Eye
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Audio | Hindi/English Dolby Digital 5.1; Hindi/English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo; Hindi DVS Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo |
Hindi/English Dolby Digital 5.1; Hindi/English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo |
Subtitles | English, Hindi, Arabic, none | English, none |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: UTV Motion Pictures Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 24 |
Release Information: Studio: Artificial Eye Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details:
DVD Release Date: 31 January
2011 Chapters 24 |
Comments |
Neither disc
features the film in its original aspect ratio. Sourced from the
same HD master, the image has been cropped to 1.85:1 (presumably
by the licensor since the American disc was released by UTV, the
film's distributor). The film was shot in Panavision (not Super
35mm) and some wide angle shots feature anamorphic bowing. The
Artificial Eye transfer seems ever so slightly brighter, but the
framing is the same. Both discs offer 5.1 and 2.0 stereo tracks
(there is an equal amount of Hindi and English dialogue spoken
throughout), but the UTV disc adds a Descriptive Video Service
track (however it is in Hindi) and includes additional Hindi and
Arabic subtitles. The English subtitle translation appears to be
the same. |
DVD
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(UTV Motion Pictures - Region 0 -
NTSC - LEFT vs. Artificial Eye - Region 0 - PAL - RIGHT)
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(UTV Motion Pictures - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP vs. Artificial Eye - Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(UTV Motion Pictures - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP vs. Artificial Eye - Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(UTV Motion Pictures - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP vs. Artificial Eye - Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(UTV Motion Pictures - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP vs. Artificial Eye - Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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(UTV Motion Pictures - Region 0 - NTSC - TOP vs. Artificial Eye - Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)
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