ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses Peepli Lives form, style and content to identify the films divergence from Bollywood narratives, its interrogation of the national narrative and, in this regard, the films evocation of the ghosts of subnarratives elided from the dominant discourse. It examines the films depictions of the Indian news media as an increasingly dominant arbiter of discourse in an urbanising nation, where overwhelming consumerism is coterminous with vestiges of the erstwhile British colonial system. It is fair to contend that the neoliberal agenda and its after-effects are thematically folded into Peepli Lives exposition of the dilemma facing Indian farmers in general and Natha in particular. The incongruous presence of corporate media crews in Peepli's rustic settings draws attention to the distinction between New Delhi and backward Peepli. The media maelstrom that descends on Peepli, patronising and anthropologising its inhabitants and Natha, is inextricably linked to the demand for sensational stories by an urban Indian viewership.
