Farmers group seeks ban on screening of Peepli Live

Mumbai: A farmers' organisation in Nagpur has asked Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan to ban the screening of Aamir Khan's movie Peepli Live since it has diverted from the basic issue of farmers' suicide and hurt the sentiments of the rural folk.

Although the film released last week has been hailed by critics as one of the smartest social satires to hit the Indian screens in years, it has not gone down well with the farming community.

"We have urged the chief minister to look into the objections raised by farm activists as the message of the film is taking farm suicide to a damaging turn and to continue its screening would create a law and order problem in the state," said Kishor Tiwari, President, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), a farmers' advocacy group in Vidarbha.
 

The region has been the epicentre of India's agrarian crisis which has claimed 200,000 farmers' lives in the last decade.

In the cotton belt of Maharashtra alone, about 40,000 farmers have committed suicide, Tiwari said.

"We are objecting to the basic theme and script of Peepli Live, produced by mainstream filmmaker Khan and directed by Anusha Rizvi, that the farmer is committing suicide for compensation," said Tiwari.

A TV series Bairi Piya had earlier shown that debt trapped Vidarbha farmers were selling their daughters for clearing their debts.

If that wasn't bad enough, this film has "twisted facts from ground reality and is an insult to thousands of dying farmers, The storyline has disturbed all of us," he said.

Quick fix

The main character in the film is Natha, a poor farmer from Peepli village in the heart of rural India who is about to lose his plot of land due to an unpaid government loan. His quick fix to the problem is the very same government's programme that aids families of farmers who kill themselves.

As a means of survival, Natha can chose to die even as his brother is happy to push him towards this end. However, Natha is reluctant. Tiwari stresses that this is "totally untrue in real life."

The film would also give strong support to politicians and bureaucrats and encourage their apathetic approach to the problem. In reality, the government of Maharashtra has rejected over 90 per cent of the claims made by family members of farmers who have committed suicide, he said.