TALKING POINT: Producer Aamir Khan with director Anusha Rizvi; (below) a moment from Peepli Live

From standing ovations at Sundance to gushing reactions from the industry back home, how do you feel, given that Peepli Live is just your first film?

To tell you the truth, I was not there for the private screening we had for the industry guys and thank god for it! I would have been feeling far too overwhelmed to react at all. Still, considering the kind of reactions the film has been getting from people who are veterans at what they do, it’s an unsettling feeling. It hasn’t soaked in, honestly.

Going back in time, what prompted you to make a film on farmer suicides in the first place?

It was in 2003, I was still working as a television reporter-producer with NDTV. I saw this capsule about how farmer suicides were getting compensation from the government at that time. So immediately the thought that triggered in me was — what is the compensation or government policy or state stance for those who are living? And that’s the vast majority. I developed that core idea into a story.

But the story could have been told in many ways. Why did you go for a comic satire?

I don’t know how to answer this but I am guessing this must be having something to do with the kind of person I am. You develop a style of telling a story based on the style you have been exposed to all your life and something you are comfortable with. What we are saying in the story is completely real. Nothing is funny in the film; it’s a very serious film. All that one is trying to do is to show the real situations in a manner that would make the bigger picture visible. If that larger, wider picture appears funny to you as an audience, then the question arises: Is the state of contemporary India funny? Should it be funny?

Why did you approach Aamir Khan of all people to produce the film?

I thought of Aamir when I was scripting the film. In fact, when I contacted him, he wanted me to send him the whole script. I had heard him say in an interview that he wanted to produce more films after Lagaan. This was 2004 and he hadn’t made anything for three years. At that juncture he okayed four films — Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, Taare Zameen Par, Peepli Live and Delhi Belly. But because he had to direct Taare Zameen Par himself, Peepli Live and Delhi Belly got postponed for two years.

How nerve-wracking was this period of two years when nothing was happening?

It was a very edgy time because it’s not like you are told at one go that your film is delayed for two years and you can plan your life accordingly. You are always told that the film is delayed for three months. So, you are hesitant in taking up another project because it’s always just a matter of three months and there’s no reason for you not to believe it. It does make you very restless.

Did you ever think of a target audience, maybe a festival crowd, while making the film?

The film is not a festival film... it was never intended to be one. It is not a western audience film if that’s what you are asking me. It’s made with purely the Indian audience in mind and if I can reach out to even half of the cinema-going audience, I will be more than happy. Because it is an internal dialogue between Indians. At best if you are to stretch it, it will probably go up to the third world. But we are not having a dialogue with the first world. We cannot have it because we first need to talk to ourselves.

I think once the multiplex audience has seen it and there’s a spread of word-of-mouth, maybe smaller cities and villages too can get a chance to see the film. If not now, maybe two years later, maybe five years later. I am looking at a larger base and I am looking at a longer time period for the film to penetrate. Not a week or 10 days.

How do you want the people to react to Peepli Live? Do you want a Rang De Basanti kind of effect?

No, I don’t at all want a Rang De effect which will come and disappear in like a matter of days. I am sorry but I have to say this... the Rang De effect was purely a middle-upper-middle class effect which got triggered because the woman (Jessica Lal) in question also belonged to the same class. Peepli Live would be an attempt to move away from that kind of reaction. What people take out of the film is up to them. They may not like it but as long as it generates a talking point, I think, we would be fine.

Peepli Live releases today